An Encounter with Fate
by Sirius' Sweetheart
Summary: Funny how terrible events lead to happy endings, right? Sometimes getting hurt is the best thing that ever could have happened. Right? James, Lily, and their friends find out. R&R!
1. To Count the Stars in Vain

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately for myself, I do not own the Harry Potter characters and/or plot.**

A beautiful young girl with auburn hair, an uncountable amount of freckles, and eyes that gleamed like emeralds stood in the breeze on that summer night in England. Her hair blew back in the breeze gracefully making her look like a fairy tale princess. While she stood on her balcony, trying to count the stars in vain, she attempted examining herself in the light.

Lily was a simple girl with big expectations and ambition in life. She was aspiring to be a healer once she finished school. Most people thought that just since she was smart she decided to go into medicine, but that wasn't it at all. Lily just liked helping people. Her heart went out to them and she couldn't help it no matter how hard she tried.

People at Hogwarts defined Lily as bookworm, though able to balance a fun life full of anything you could throw at her. Her father worked at a law firm in the middle of London, and as for her mother was a stay at home mom.

Trying to keep her hair from knotting in the breeze Lily trekked inside to her room and sat at her desk. Her desktop was filled with spare parchment and quills along with a line of pictures of her and her best friends and a stray Beatles record or two on the surface. There was one of the girls at the lake dipping their feet in the water near the end of fifth year. Another of them painting their nails and giggling about boys in their dormitory during third year. One of her and her friend Alice pranking Petunia earlier in the summer. Lastly one of all of them smiling by the fire in the Common Room the night before Christmas Break with the Marauders trying to crash their photo.

As she thought about her friends she spotted, a distinct blob of a shape was flying towards her at a good speed. After about a couple of seconds she recognized it as an owl. It came and swooped down to her and landed directly in front of her on the balcony rail. She lived in a three story house that consisted of 6 bedrooms, and 5 baths. Four of the bedrooms had balconies outside of them. Lily, her older horse faced sister Petunia, her parents, and one of the guest rooms had this feature. She picked up the letter and started reading, only to find that it was from Hogwarts, and her course list. She felt something else in the envelope it had felt heavier than normal this year. She took a look and put her hand back into it and fumbled to pull another letter out. She hadn't the slightest idea what it might be.

**Dear Miss Lily Evans,**

I am pleased to inform you that you have been chosen to fill the position of Head Girl this year. You will be expected to hold a prefects meeting during the train ride, prepare patrolling schedules, debrief the new fifth years of their duties, and work with the Head Boy to plan school events. After the Welcoming Feast please meet me at the High Table for further instructions. have a lovely end of summer, Miss Evans.

Sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc. Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Lily was so exited about getting Head Girl. She let out a loud and girlish squeal and apparated straight into the living room startling her parents who were trying to watch the news.

"I made Head Girl!" Lily exclaimed to her parents while hopping around the room excitedly.

"That's great, Lils! I knew you would get it, sweetie! Oh, I'm so proud of you! I'm going to go make us some ice cream sundaes to celebrate. PETUNIA! YOUR SISTER MADE HEAD GIRL AND WE'RE CELEBRATING WITH SUNDAES DO YOU WANT ANY?"

"I don't have a sister! All I have is a freak who lives upstairs during the summer eating my food, using the bathroom when I need it, breathing heavily at night when I'm trying to sleep, and stealing all the attention!" shrieked a very crabby Petunia.

"Petunia!" exclaimed her mother, who was getting ready to tell her off.

"YOUR LOSS!" shouted her father, who always had a better liking to Lily.

"We are so proud of you firecracker," her father said as he hugged Lily, winking at her.

"Thanks dad, and don't call me that, you know I hate that nickname," groaned Lily.

"Well _I_ like it, so I'm just going to keep calling you it. I can't help it anymore. After seventeen years it became habit. You should have tried to stop me earlier," he said cheekily.

"You know that if I could have, I would have, dad. Anyways I'm going to go write a letter to the girls asking them to meet up in Diagon Alley tomorrow for shopping and supplies and stuff. Is that alright with you guys?"

"Of course it is sweetie. I'll call you down when the sundaes are ready, you know your mum. They just have to be 'perfect' for our little girl." he said the last part in a discreet tone.

"You're smothering me again dad." she called back over her shoulder, laughing, as she ran up the stairs to go write her letters.

Up in her room Lily was searching through her drawers for some parchment, a quill, and a bottle of ink. She called Artemis over from her open cage to be ready to send off the lettesrs. After she found the parchment, a ratty old, overused quill, and some left over ink from last semester she hastily scribbled down a note to three of her dorm-mates. She figured if she wrote the other two would be to far for Artemis to travel in one night.

Dear Lauren, Alice, & Morgan,

You guys will never believe what just came with my Hogwarts letter. The Head Girl badge! I mean of course I knew I was in the running, being one of the prefects and all, but I always expected somebody else to get it. I'll save some of my ranting for when you properly take the mickey later though. Also, I was thinking since we have our letters now that we should go into Diagon Alley tomorrow? Maybe grab a bite or some ice cream? If we get some in Diagon Alley we have to try Florian Fortescue's new Chocolate Tower, I hear it's to die for. Artemis is being impatient, flapping her wings and whatnot. Bloody bird. So I guess I'll end here. Hopefully see you tomorrow!

All my Love,

Lily

That looks good she thought to herself as she flicked her wand and two more copies of the letter appeared.

"Here Artemis. Give these to Alice, Morgan, and Lauren as fast as you can. Have a nice flight." she called as Artemis gracefully flew away, off to deliver the letters.

And with that she appeared with a pop at the bottom of the stairs to go chat amiably with her parents knowing it would aggravate Petunia. That's the main reason she did it. Well that and the ice cream of course.

* * *

**A/N: I know most of you are just going to read this first chapter then disappear to a different fan fic because this doesn't seem very interesting. I SWEAR ON ALL FAN FICTION ON EARTH that it DOES get more interesting after this chapter. So please go ahead to the next chapter - Please. Now please press that cute little button that says "Next". **

**-B**


	2. Diagon Alley

**A/N: Sorry, Petunia & Lily's argument was quite terribly written on my part D: Sorry.  
**

Lily had just apparated into the Leaky Cauldron when she heard voices squabbling, that sounded much like her friends.

"Hey guys,"

"LILY!" they all squealed as the four friends all ran up to each other, knocking their heads, and falling over in the process.

They got tangled in the mass of flailing limbs while trying to properly sit up, only to be met with much aggravated and annoyed complaints from each other.

"Ouch Lauren that was my hair!"

"Oops sorry, well maybe if you hadn't poked me in the eye,"

"Oh yeah sorry about that Lauren. I thought I felt something squishy hit my finger," grinned Alice sheepishly.

"Alice!" Lauren let out a mock gasp, "I never would have thought it of you."

"Drama Queen," Lily muttered under her breath just loud enough for the rest to hear, causing them to crack up.

After they all got untangled, and stepped into Diagon Alley. Lily had started to set up an itinerary, being the perfectionist that she is.

"Ok first I think we should all go to Madam Malkins, it's closest. Also for some odd reason dress robes were on the suppy list, and she has a better selection that those shops in Hogsmeade do. All of the good ones will be gone by the time, Morgan, the slow poke, here gets up." Lily said in a bossy kind of way.

"Hey! I am not that slow! Today I woke up at 10:30 this morning, thank you very much." a dignified Morgan said, triumphant smirk gracing her pretty face.

"Wow that's an improvement," muttered Alice sarcastically

"Morgan we were almost ready to leave at 10:30, sweetie."

"Well... Well… Well…," spluttered Morgan, "I got nothing. BUT that doesn't mean-"

"Give it up, we all know that your lazy bum is the first to go to bed, last to get up to go to breakfast. I mean we have been living with you for six years." cut in Lily.

"Well then," she huffed.

"Then we need to go to Flourish and Blotts to get our spell books. We need a whole slew of them this year. Third Artemis needs some more owl treats, so we can go to Eeylops Owl Emporium for those. Last we need to pop into Apothecary. I think all of our potions kits are running low." said Lily, absentmindedly checking off the different shops on her fingers.

"I think that's it," Alice said.

Once they reached Madam Malkin's, the short elderly little woman with wispy dark brown hair, bustled out behind a rack of robes to greet them.

"Hello what can I get you fine ladies today?"

"We would like to look at some dress rooms madam." Alice said in her smooth sweet voice.

"Oh, and I need some new school robes, my little brother Liam got a hold of my wand, and somehow set them on fire. By the time I got there they were shriveled, orange, and smoking." Morgan said with a smile tugging at her lips.

"Right this way," Madam Malkin said. While commenting on the colors that would best suit them.

"For you Lily I would suggest an emerald green, to bring out your eyes. I'm sure that the color is a bit overused on you, though isn't it?"

Lily nodded her head briskly, motioning that her assumptions were indeed correct.

"So may I suggest a light black. It would make your hair and eyes really stand out. You can use a tanning charm on your skin, so that the black looks more suiting, for your complexion. Now Lauren…. I think you would look just stunning in a deep red, almost a maroon. It would look great with you eye, and hair color. Make you pop, if you know what I mean. Morgan… Tricky, tricky. I think you would also look good in a dark color. Indigo perhaps. Yes, yes I think that will do. Again a bright violent must be a bit overused on you, as for as dresses are concerned. Now last but not least, Alice. You would look good in stunning robes of midnight blue. They will bring out your eyes, and your hair will stand out from the dark color. OK here is a rack full of robes of your suggested color. One per girl." The woman said all surprisingly quick. With a wave of her wand, and a muttering of a spell, four racks of robes appeared. The girls looked delighted at this. Shoppers at heart these girls were.

"How did she know our names?" asked Morgan nervously.

"I guess it's just natural. Kind of like Ollivander if you know what I mean. He said he remembered when my mum and dad bought their wands. I told him I didn't believe him. He got them both right down to the quarter inch. It's kind of creepy now that I think about it." Lauren shuddered.

"Morgan that dress looks absolutely gorgeous. You should go try it on. Here take this one too while your at it." Alice said in a happy, encouraging manner.

"Ok I'll be right back. See you girls in a minute."

"Now Alice, I think you would look good in something silky. Something that hugs your figure then flows out." said Lily who was the attire expert in their group. While Alice did accessories, Lauren hair, and Morgan make-up, then their other roommate, Kylie, was good at everything.

"Here try these." she said while shoving three or four dark blue dresses into her hands, causing her to stumble with the extra weight.

"Now Lauren. Lauren. Lauren. Lauren. What shall we do for you? How about something with a more casual material that appears dressy. Strappy, knee length, and maybe a lighter shade of red, than darker. Hmmmm. . ." she mumbled while searching the racks.

"AH HA! I found it. Here it will magically modify to your body type. It is perfect, you'll love it. Here." Lily ordered whilst pushing her best friend towards the dressing rooms.

"Lily?" Morgan asked tentatively.

"Yeah," she replied, while looking for a dress of her own.

"How does this look?"

A small gasp could be heard escape Lily's mouth.

"That's it your buying it. Quick before the others see. I forbid you to see each others dresses, until the night of the ball." she added in a very motherly tone in her voice.

"Come on move it missy!" she ordered.

"Jeez Lily no need to be snappy," Morgan mumbled under her breath

"I heard that!" Lily snapped yet again.

Shuffling through her own rack, she was interrupted yet again, but by Lauren this time.

"Hey Lily. What do ya' think?"

"I think that I was right. Again."

"Somebody's modest I see." she joked.

"Oh shut up, you. Ok, no looking at anybody else's it's a surprise. Now go pay for yours. Morgan is up there now."

She was looking through her rack when she saw the perfect dress for herself. It was a dark black, floor length with sparkles all over it. It was strapless, and a little revealing. She loved it to say the least, so she headed over to the changing rooms.

"Alice?"

"Lily is that you?"

"Yeah,"

"I'm done, you can't see my dress though. It's a surprise. Let me get changed and on three step out so I can see. Ok?"

"Kay, Lils."

"Alright one-two-THREE! Alice all I have to say is when Frank sees you in this, his jaw is going to drop all the way to the floor, and he won't be able to string a coherent sentence together." Lily said warmly.

"Thanks Lily." Alice said with a sense of gratefulness laced throughout her kind, comforting voice. "I'm going to change back into my robes. Meet you at the checkout counter?"

"Sure," Lily responded, mind still on the dress of her own. "OK you lot! Lets go get the rest of our stuff."

"Yes Ma'am General Lily." Morgan smirked.

After a long day of shopping, and many, many, many, many bags later, they were ready to leave. Of course three of the four Marauders had to ruin their perfectly nice day of girls only shopping.

"Lily!" Sirius gasped.

"Lily we need your help. Prongs is hurt. We were racing to the Quality Quidditch Supplies Shop, and somebody used a trip jinx on him. Well, that's what Remus said anyways," he rambled, "He fell and now he's all scraped up, and bleeding all over. I don't think it was just a tripping spell anymore. You should have seen it. He like flew forwards and like almost dived down into the pavement. Kind of like those muggle penguin throwing games, muggles play on the comluper. You have to help heal him. Remus isn't very good at healing spells and was afraid to do it himself. He noticed Morgan, figured you would be with her, and sent me to come get you." he said all in one breath.

"Ok keep your knickers on Sirius." Lauren kidded.

"Hey baby," said Sirius lightly, meanwhile forgetting his best friend bleeding all over the sidewalk.

"Hey," she responded kissing him lightly on the lips then on the cheek, leaving a slightly glossy, lip shaped, kiss mark on his cheek.

"Ok lovebirds, back to the crisis at hand. Sirius. Calm down, and turn away from your girlfriend. Where is James?" she said calmly. This may be her sworn enemy, but she couldn't stand not helping people.

"You called him James..." Sirius said disbelief etched on his face.

"No I didn't." Lily replied to quickly. Why did she call James, James. I mean Potter James? It's Potter not James. Potter. She though to herself panicking. "I called him Potter. Where's Potter, Sirius? If you don't want him to die of blood loss tell me where he is. NOW!" she said icily, suprising herself with the coldness, that came our of her usually bubbly voice.

"He is in front of Ollivander's. Come on." he urged.

"I'm coming. Lead the way."

Once they all had caught up with Sirius, he led them to James. Once the girls saw the state he was in the all let out small gasps, of shock.

"Guys we have to take him back to my house. I have some emergency wizarding medical supplies there. You guys can apparate there. Remus you can side along with Morgan, Sirius you got Lauren. I'll take James I guess. Alice, can you help me with him?"

"Sure, Lily." Alice said and rushed over to grab a part of James.

With that they all turned on their heel, and were met with the sensation of bring sucked into an air tight tube. Once they thought they couldn't take it anymore, they landed in the Evans' living room.

**A/N: The characters are still extremely undeveloped at this point... If they seem immature, they probably are since they haven't REALLY seen that much of the world yet outside of the Daily Prophet and the walls of Hogwarts which is a safe haven practically with Dumbledore there. Besides Remus & Lily, they hardly know that much about responsibility as a whole.**


	3. The Evans' House

"Mom! Dad! I'm home. Lauren summon my medical set. Alice conjure up some ice. Damn it where's wand!" She cried exasperatedly.

"Here you go Lils" Remus said softly.

"Thanks Remus"

So Lily was in the process of peeling off James' shirt to see if his chest was injured. Thankfully it wasn't. Once Lauren gave her the medical kit, she whipped out her wand, and most of the shallow cuts healed. The deeper cuts, she had to put some purple paste on as a disinfectant, and then some yellow liquid to clear the cuts. Then with a wave of her wand his face, arms, and legs were all cleaned up. Later she noticed that his wrist was bent at a slightly odd angle."

"Remus did James have his hands out in front of him when he fell?"

"Yeah he did, probably to break his fall," Remus replied warily.

Lily took a deep breath and let out a sigh.

"Ok just wanted to make sure. I thought so, but if I tried to heal his wrist when it wasn't broken. Lets just say he wouldn't be playing Quidditch anytime soon." she said grimly.

"Ennerverate" Lily spoke, while pointing her wand at James' so he would regain consciousness.

"Lily?"

"In here mom. Some of my friends are here. Somebody got hurt so they all came here while I patched him up. Hey girls do you want to spend the rest of the summer here?!" Lily asked excitedly

"As long as it's ok with you Mrs. E," Said Alice.

"Of course you girls are welcome here anytime. You know that," She replied sweetly

"My parents won't care they'll be happy to get rid of me, and since Morgan is staying with me they won't mind," replied Lauren shrugging.

"What about us Lil?" Sirius and Remus exclaimed.

"You don't want us here?" Sirius asked in mock hurt.

"Well!" pushed James and Remus.

"I guess you could stay if you guys want. Just talk to your parents. I'll go set up the guest rooms. Lauren your with me, Sirius and James your together, and Alice and Morgan your rooming together. Remus you get your own room."

"WHAT!!" James and Sirius shouted. While Remus had a triumphant smirk planted on his face.

"Well it's obvious she likes Remus better then you two. It's not rocket science. I mean you two do prank us an awful lot. We know Remus isn't involved with half of them because he is right next to us while you prank us." Alice said hotly, to breaking the short silence, while rolling her eyes in the process.

Lily set up the stairs, as James and Sirius sat on the couch in a huff admitting defeat.

As Lily came skipping down the steps, she realized that Petunia wasn't here. Not that it was't normal, but she couldn't help feeling sad.

She's probably off with her 'boyfriend' she thought sourly. Her older sister Petunia was dating this rude, fat, walrus like looking guy. His name was Vernon Dursley. Lily herself didn't like him much, but if he made her sister happy then it was good with her. He did have an awful temper though. Also he made it crystal clear that he didn't like anything abnormal. Especially magicians.

You see Lily and her sister Petunia used to be the best of friends when they were little. That was until Lily got her acceptance letter into Hogwarts. Petunia was jealous and wrote the headmaster, and asked for acceptance too, so they could go together. After her rejection she has taken her jealously and anger out on Lily, since she is everything she has always wanted. Lily was beautiful, popular, smart, outgoing, modest and best of all a witch. Lily would never admit all of that, but that didn't make it any less true.

Now Petunia wasn't ugly, she just resembled a horse, in a slight way. She had light blonde hair, a very horse-like cheek bone structure, attached to a rather long neck, with a 'bony' figure. Her eyes are a startlingly large, sort of buggy, and they were a washed out light brown color.

Her sister won't be happy when she see's my friends here. Lily thought some-what happily, and continued skipping down the stairs until she reached the living room.

"Ok, come on you lot, time for a tour!" She yelled from the doorway, scaring Sirius out of his wits, seeing as he didn't notice her there. The game of Exploding Snaps they were playing, blew up and singed his eyebrows, when he jump.

They all laughed at him harmoniously, while Sirius tried casting a worried glance up at his eye-brows. Yet failing ceremoniously.

"Now you all know your rooming arrangements so follow me." Lauren exclaimed, having known the house almost as well as Lily, as they all fell into step behind her.

"First floor here we go. Outside of this door is the hallway." She started in a very real-estate agentish tone.

"First door on the right is Petunia's room. You want to try to stay out of there at ALL times, especially in the mornings. She is NOT a morning person." Lauren stated, while Morgan, Alice, and Lily all nodded their heads, in a rapid manner.

"The door parallel to that is the bathroom. Again this is Petunia's bathroom, stay out. At the end of this lovely hallway is the back door. This leads to Lily's enormous back yard, think of a Quidditch pitch. Now think of that except almost double in size. That is Lily's back yard." The boys stood their with an awe struck look on their faces. While the girls on the other hand had to stuff their fists in their mouth to stifle the giggle, fighting to be let out.

As they moved on throughout the house, they finally got into the entertainment room. The look on the Marauders face was even better then when they imagined the back yard. They looked like little kids in a candy store. They ran over to everything, trying to touch, feel, and in Sirius' case sniff all of the electronics in the room.

"OOOhhhhh ooohhhh ooohhh Lily what's this? It looks like a black box with glass on it."

"Why does this smell like hamster?"

"A better question is why do you know what a hamster actually smells like."Remus retorted, who was of course impressed, but didn't want to look like a fool in front of Morgan. Taking Muggle Studies for three years helped also.

After they all had their questions answered, they headed off to visit their respectable rooms. Luckily they were all on the same floor, as Petunia got the first floor all to herself, as did Lily's parents. Petunia also got the kitchen, living room, dining room, and the back-yard on her floor. While Lily's parents got the entertainment room, their master bedroom and master bath, another living room, and two bathrooms. Lily on the other hand had her bedroom, and three other guest rooms, along with an extra two bathrooms on her floor. She always thought she had the best deal, since Petunia never had friends over during the summer. (She was always out with Vernon.) While Alice, Morgan, or Lauren were constantly there.

The rooms were set up across from each other down the wide hallway. Lily's and Lauren's at the end, Morgan and Alice's the last door on the right, Remus' the same on the left. The bathrooms were set up side by side on the right hand side. Lastly James and Sirius shared the first bedroom on the right.

After they had all unpacked, and got settled they headed down to the kitchen for dinner.

**(A/N: I know I said they had 5 bathrooms but i changed my mind they have 6. I hope you like this chapter Please Review!!****-Brittney)**


	4. Macaroni and French Fries

They all rushed down the stairs once they heard the word 'dinner' over the intercom, which persisted in ringing through their ears. Once they reached the kitchen they found Mrs. Evans cutting a stick of celery.

"Oh good you're here. What am I not cool enough to know your other friends here? Morgan since my daughter here doesn't think I'm cool enough to meet her guy friends why don't you introduce me to them." She said with a smirk on her face.

"Sure thing Mrs. E. Ok the cute blonde one here is Remus."

"Nice to meet you Mrs. Evans."

"Oh call me Elizabeth, or Mrs. E at least."

"Thanks for having us Elizabeth."

"Oh it's no problem dears." She said beaming at the polite young men before her.

"OK. Moving on. The other cute one, with the long black hair the goes on, right 'til it reaches under his eye-brow. That there is Sirius Black."

"How's it goin' Mrs. E.?"

"Swell Sirius, just swell. How about you?"

"Great now that you're here." He said while flashing his 'all famous' charming grin.

"He's a charmer." Elizabeth said chuckling.

"Last and least.."

"Hey!" exclaimed a very irritated James.

"She's kidding. Jeez, James can't the King of Pranksters take a joke?"

"Erm sorry, go on Morgan."

"As I was saying before I was so RUDELY interrupted." she pointed a glare in James' direction.

"The one with the unruly raven black hair, and those hazel eyes, is none other than James Potter."

"It's a real pleasure to meet you Miss Elizabeth." He said while tipping an imaginary top hat, in her direction.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too James." chuckling yet again.

"Ok now if you boys would help carry stuff outside, it would be very much appreciated. Michael is out there right now, making the steaks." Elizabeth said while smiling warmly towards them.

And with that they each grabbed something to carry. James the plates, and silverware. Sirius the macaroni and cheese. Lastly Remus in the rear with the crispy fries.

After they left the kitchen the girls started talking while Mrs. Evans continued with the salad.

"I wonder if the boys have ever seen macaroni, and French fries. I mean we don't have that kind of food at Hogwarts." Alice thought out loud.

The girls just started at each other, then burst out laughing. After the laughter died down a bit, and they were calmed down. They all walked out to the gazebo as if nothing happened. Lily, then Lauren, Alice, Morgan, and Mrs. Evans in tow with the salad bowl, and dressing.

It appeared as if the boys had taken the liberty to set the table, after they got out.

After they were all seated, they were met by an awkward silence. There were a few feeble attempts at conversation from the girls, but to no avail. After Michael got tired of the silence he thought of a subject that he couldn't go wrong with. School.

"So James, how do you do in school?" he asked politely.

"I'm the top in my year. Besides Lily here of course, oh and Remus. They've been top students since first year. Sirius and I constantly battling for third." He said proudly.

"Good, good." he said absent mindedly.

"What about you Sirius, Remus. Do you play any sports?"

"Yeah, I'm Quidditch Captain. I play beater, we have bats and they hit these heavy balls to chase other players to have them drop the Quaffle. Remus here's a beater also. James plays Seeker. He goes around trying to catch the Snitch. Which is this tiny golden ball that flies around at a breakneck speed." Sirius boasted

"Wow, so very athletic I see." Michael said, clearly impressed.

"Yep" The boys responded proudly. The silence resumed.

"Hey uumm Lily?" James asked breaking the silence, that had remained for about fice minutes, while everyone ate.

"Yeah James?"

"Not to be rude or anything, but with are those stick looking things in the bowl?" he asked tentatively.

The whole table minus the Marauders burst out laughing yet again.

"Those James are called _French Fries_."Lauren replied smoothly in a would-be-calm voice, fighting to hold back her giggles.

"Oh. Well what are they?" The laughing started to increase in volume, while the Marauders had looks of bewilderment on their faces.

"They're cut up potatoes, fried in oil." Mrs. Evans responded politely, while fighting back giggles of her own.

"Erm thanks." He said shyly, while helping himself to a handful of french fries. When he tried to figure out how to get the ketchup out of the bottle, and unexpected squelch was let out.

"AAHHH" He shouted, and lost his balance on the chair, and toppled to the warm, hard, grassy terrain.

"I'm ok. I am ok." He said while jumping up from the ground. Soon everyone's concerned expresions changed to amused.

"Oh, and what is that squishy yellow lookin' stuff?" asked Sirius, in a smooth voice, that caused the laughs to be started back up.

"That boys, is called Macaroni. It's made of noodles, and cheese sauce, mixed with milk, and butter." Alice replied, being the one who got her poise back the quickest.

"OOOHHHH" the three Marauders said in unison, with a dawning comprehension shown on their faces.

Once they all got a helping, Sirius decided to examine it on his spoon. A brilliant idea came into his mind. **_Foodfight. _**Even in his head it sounded like a beautiful thing. Of course it would have nothing on a full fledged Hogwarts food fight. It would still be fun he thought. And with that he pulled back his spoon, let go and let the macaroni go flying straight between Lauren's eyes. Bulls-eye he thought, with his signature Maruader smirk on his face. What he didn't realize was that Lauren got the ketchup bottle, and was applying an abundant amount of ketchup on her spoon.

Ready. Set. Aim. FIRE! thought Lauren.

"You got it in my HAIR!!" yelled Sirius. Volume level increasing with every word. Extra emphais was put on the word hair. Sirius was like a girl when it came to his hair. He washed it at least twice a day, brushed it 200 times each morning before breakfast, and right before bed. If you think you're obsessed with your hair, you haven't met Sirius.

"Oops" Lauren said innocently.

"Well then i might just accidentally throw some more of this macaroni on you. Accidentally of course." That was his fatal mistake. Instead of hitting his target (AKA Lauren). It hit Remus. Remus now might be the prefect in their little group, but he for one was not about to take macaroni to his FAVORITE shirt, lying down.

Soon A full fledged food fight. All attempts of stopping it were down the drain, in a blink of an eye. Even Lily's parents joined in. Everybody was laughing and screaming, until the food ran out. The Aftermath of the food fight was devastating. There were globs of macaroni all over the gazebo's poles, roof, and floor. Most of it went down the girls' shirts, or in Sirius' hair. There was ranch dressing, and ketchup occupying everyone else's. French fries, stray crutons, and lettuce all stuck to the ranch and ketchup. They were all drenched in Hawaiin Punch, and iced tea, with drops still trickling down thier face, torso, and finger tips. Luckily the steaks were all consumed during the awkward silences. Whew... Thank goodness for silence. So they were all standing there laughing and staring at the state of their friends. Epecially Sirius who was complaining how his hair would never be the same, with a T-Bone in his mouth.

After dinner was cleaned up, Mr. Evans thought the boys should learn how to use a grill, so they could help him when he hosted the neighborhood's, Annual Summer Cookout Blowout.

"So boys, first you have to turn the heat on, by turning these little knobby things. Which ignited the flame."

"FLAME?!" they shouted with a look of awe, and nervousness washed over their faces.

"Yeah flames, that's how the food gets cooked."

"Why can't you just cast a cooking charm on it?" Asked a befuddled Sirius. While Mr. Evans turned off the grill

"Us Muggles don't have magic witches and wizards do, Sirius." He replied with an amused twinkle, growing in his eyes.

"Yeah, I er forgot." He stated lamely.

"It's quite alright, son. I know you wizard folk don't know much about Muggles, like myself."

"Sir, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly is a felly tone?"

"Pardon?"

"A felly tone. You know one Muggle calls another Muggle…" He trailed off.

"OH, you mean a telephone."

"Yeah, yeah that's it." Remus replied with a smile that lit up his whole face. While the other boys joined in with childish grins.

"Come on in the house, we have one in the kitchen." He laughed.

"UUUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHH" somebody from inside shouted.

Inside the House

The woman inside the house heard a door slam, along with the faint steps that followed.

"MOM, DAD I'm home from my date with Vernon!" Petunia shouted as she walked into the kitchen, only to be met with an unpleasant sight. Well to her anyways.

In the kitchen Lily, her friends, and Mrs. Evans were all laughing merrily, while watching the dishes wash themselves.

"You know this is a nice refreshment, watching the wash themselves, rather than washing them my…. Oh hey Petunia darling. Want some left over's? We saved you some, I know you like steak."

She stood there taking in the scene with amazement. Lily and her dweeb friends had a food fight and mom and dad _let_ them! When her and her friends had one, Petunia got grounded for a month! A month. But when the beautiful, perfect Lily throws one she gets _praised_? She thought discusted. Not is she could help it.

"What are they doing here! And why are theu all covered in food. I hope there is going to be punishment." Emphasizing the word 'they' as if were dirt underneath her shoes.

"They're my friends Pet. They're as welcome here as any of yours are. As for the mess we had a food fight. Don't worry we cleaned the gazebo up. We just used a cleaning charm" Lily said in sickly sweet voice, flashing her sister and innocent school-girl smile.

"Well at least MY friends are NORMAL, unlike them. Please tell me they aren't staying." Petunia groaned in an un lady-like manner.

"Yeah they are Petunia, now be more polite to your MY friends. They are guests in this house. I'm always nice to your friends, why can't you be nice to mine? Besides your always off with _Vernon_, anyways. So I expect we'll be out of your hair, most of the time." Stated Lily matter-of-factly.

"UUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHHH" shouted Petunia. While the boys came running in expecting the worst. Wands drawn, fighting stance at the ready, with determined looks on their faces. Mr. Evans on the other hand knew what this was about, and casually strolled in after them.

" There's MORE of them!" she shrieked.

"Tell them to put those AWAY!" Petunia complained.

"It's ok guys. Just Petunia and Lily fighting over, well I don't really know what their fighting over, but yeah." Stated Lauren.

"Ok Petunia. Calm down. They have put their wands away. So just go upstairs and call Vernon or something." Alice said rationally, yet sternly.

Listening to Alice, Petunia stomped off into her room, making sure to make as much noise as possible, seeing as their were no stairs to stomp up.

"Lily, just go upstairs and cool off for a while you can have the first shower. Oh and clean out the drain, before you let us get in. I don't really fancy stepping in macaroni, when I bathe." Alice ordered.

"How did you do that? I have never in all my years been able to stop them from fighting, before something is thrown at Lily from Petunia, or something valuable explodes from Lily losing control of her magic. At least she has the sense to take the fight into Petunia's room, so it isn't anything of hers that unexpectedly explodes." Reasoned Elizabeth, while nodding her head in approval of her youngest daughter's strategies.

"Well now that that has been settled…. How about we go take showers to get this goop off, jump into our jammies, and watch a video. The boys can pick the movie, while we get the popcorn?" Morgan asked.

"Sounds good to me." Remus said. While James and Sirius nodded their heads in approval.

"Same here." said Alice, and Lauren in unison.

(A/N: The next chapter is going to be about the movie, and the following day.)


	5. Movies, Secrets, and Breakfast

After everyone was showered, and dressed they met up in the entertainment room. Sirius and James choose 101 Dalmatians. Remus tried to explain to them that is was a little kid movie, and they were bog kids now, but that just motivated them more.

When the girls appeared in the doorway with their fluffy slippers, they made their appearance known, after watching them for about a minute while they remained oblivious to their presence.

"Hey guys."

"Hey"

"So what movie did you guys pick?"

"Well Sirius and James thought…"

"Oh god this can't be good." Alice said, while rolling her eyes, at them for the umpteenth time that evening.

"We do have good ideas sometimes you know." James exclaimed, obviously offended that somebody as nice as Alice would say that, while he was in the room none-the-less.

"As in sometimes you mean one of those rare moments, where you have a short stroke of brilliance, that lasts about 30 seconds right Sirius?"

"That would be correct Lauren."

"Ok just making sure."

"Now that we have that established….." announced Lily.

"What movie did they pick?"

"101 Dalmatians!" Sirius and James announced happily, while Remus and Lily groaned.

"Well we haven't seen it yet so fine by me." said Morgan.

"Fine, but it's a little kids movie. After this one we get to watch a horror. OK?"

There were some grumbles of replies from the group, but in the end they agreed on 101 Dalmatians, for James, Sirius, and the girls. (Minus Lily.) While the horror movie chosen was Amityville Horror.

They sat on the floor and got comfortable. Leaning against the couch the order went as follows: At the far right Morgan, Remus, Lily, James, Lauren, Sirius, Alice. Lauren made their little 'seating chart' in hopes that Morgan and Remus would, be able to discreetly flirt. Lily would finally realize James isn't a bad guy, when he comforts her in the horror movie (She thinks Amityville Horror is the worst of the worst when it comes to horror.) While she had her boyfriend Sirius, who's eyes could just hypnotize her to forget all her problems, and Alice who was also good at the whole comforting thing.

Once the movie was put in there was an outburst of comments.

"Aww look a puppy!"

"and another, and another, and another!"

"Who's that ugly lady with the skunk hair. Doesn't she know that look is ssssoooo 1456?"

"Your right it is sort of Medieval isn't it?"

"Well with all of that hairspray that is needed to obtain that amount of volume, she could flea bomb a house." exclaimed Sirius, who was disgusted on how badly on could treat something as precious as their own hair.

They all gasped, awed, and even in some places cried (Sirius and James), at all the right places. Lily and Lauren had gotten stuck with the job of calming them down (not an easy feat.). This Lauren had not planned for when she arranged the seating chart. This took at least 15 minutes to do.

"I loved that movie! When I go home for Christmas I'm going to ask for it."

"Geminio" Lily said. Successfully duplicating the movie. She handed one to James and one to Sirius.

"There now you don't have to waste a Christmas gift on it."

"Lily if you weren't Prongs' girl I would kiss you right about now."

That earned him a hard elbow in the ribs from Lauren.

"And if I wasn't taken" he added as an after though.

At the previous statement she blushed to the roots of her hair. Seeing as she has a very pale complexion it was extremely noticeable.

"Yeah Lily that sure was a nice thing to do for Sirius _and_ James." Alice _noted_.

"What I just didn't want them to waste a Christmas gift on something so little, that's all." She said innocently. Blushing an even darker red in the process.

"Sure, that was it." Alice said in an accusing tone, while giving a look that said 'We are SO talking about this later missy!'. While Sirius and James watched in confusion from the sidelines.

"Ok who wants to watch the next movie?" Remus asked in an attempt to break the growing tension in the room. It worked. Everyone snapped out of their little trance like state and began to set up, for The Amityville Horror.

Once the movie got to the part where the little girl was inside the closet, the girls shrieked, and started to hyperventilate. When they got into the part where it showed the babysitter getting locked in a closet, they were close to tears they were so scared. The boys and Alice started crying when the suspense at the dock, and missing dog got heated up. The absolute worst part for them was when they showed the little girl locked in the closet, who had to watch her family get shot by her own brother. The sound of her pleading, for mercy on herself to her own brother, was enough to bring tears to the girls eyes. When she was shot. Lauren and Alice ended up cradling each other crying for the poor little girl. Lily practically flung herself onto James when the scene started. By the end of it she had James holding her right side, hugging her from a sideways angle, his head halfway on hers. With Sirius hugging her from the left side, mirroring James. Silent tears tracking down their faces. Morgan on the other hand was crying into Remus' shoulder, soaking his bare chest.

After the movie ended, the girls had salty tear, tracks, running down their otherwise perfect faces. They bid their good nights and went to their respectable bathrooms to wash up before bed.

When it was Lauren's turn she shared as silent kiss with Sirius. Giving him a look that said 'We have to get those idiot people together.' (James and Lily, Remus and Morgan)

Once it was Lily's turn she runs headlong into James' chest. They both tripped backwards and fell to the ground with a distinct thud. Being one in the morning their reaction times were low. Their heads hit the wall with slightly louder thuds. Yet nobody came to their rescue. Being she tired they were all slightly delirious. So Lily and James just burst out laughing about falling down, and hitting their heads were a nice sized lump was already starting to form. After they got themselves together, they went into the bathroom, brushed their teeth, washed their faces, ect.

After everyone was settled, Morgan and Alice tip-toed over to Lily and Lauren's room, across the hall, to interrogate Lily about James. They put a silencing charm on the room and got straight to work.

"Lily Marie! How dare you not tell us something this important!" Morgan practically shrieked as soon as she walked through the door. Startling, yet waking Lily and Lauren they too screamed, and rolled out of bed. Literally.

"What the hell are you talking about Morgan?" Lily asked groggily.

"You and James of course. Who else?" Alice answered.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Lily said haughtily, nose in the air.

"Oh pur-lease Lil'. We've know you for what six years? Right?" Lauren asked.

"Yeah, but Lauren where are you going with this? It's bloody two in the morning!" Lily exclaimed.

"Jeez, no need for cursing." Alice said indignantly.

"OK back to the point."

"What may that be?" Lily asked in a fake polite voice.

"You like James. Dur."

"What I do not!" Lily said, while her mind and heart were having a heated battle inside her. 'Well you did care for him earlier when he was hurt. You could have just told them to bugger off, and find somebody else.' Her heart reasoned. 'Yeah, but that's just because I can't let somebody bleed to death even if he was my worst enemy.' her mind retorted. 'Fine that may be, but you have to admit he is cute. Not in that happy-go-lucky litle kid, Quidditch player either. Like the definition of hot, there is no other words for it.' her heart told her mind. 'That is true, and he's been incredibly nice, and my parents love him she thought. Hey you tricked me!' her mind exclaimed to itself. 'The heart wants, what the heart wants.'

"LILY!" All the girls screamed.

"What?" She replied as she snapped out of her trance.

"You were talking to yourself again." Alice giggled.

"You mean I said all of that stuff out-loud??" She asked mortified.

"Yep" they replied happily.

"So now you can't deny that you like him! HA!" Lauren exclaimed triumphantly.

"Ok so maybe a little bit." She admitted while smiling guiltily. And so the girls stayed up until dawn talking about random stuff. Past boyfriends, current boyfriends, past and current crushes, school, teachers, summer homework, plans for the rest of the week. Just about anything else you can think of. They talked about it, that was until Lily passed out on the floor, the others decided to go to sleep, before breakfast.

Knock, knock. Came a muffled sound by the door; Silent Charm faintly wearing off.

Knock, knock. Came the noise again, completely ignored by the room's occupants.

BANG! A small explosion came from outside, the door. That got the girls up. Hair tousled, eye's glassy, pajama's slightly twisted from sleeping on the floor. The true markings of heavy sleepers.

They bolted up, into a sitting position, eyes surveying the room frantically, for the source of the noise. BANG! It came again.

This caused Lily to stand up warily, and walk to the door. When she opened it, she was met with an un-expecting sight.

Remus, Sirius, and James shirtless sitting in the middle of the hallway, playing Exploding Snaps. James' eyebrows were singed, from the deck exploding in his direction.

"Hi Lily. Have a good sleep?" James asked sweetly.

"Hey guys, um why are you playing Exploding Snap in my hallway?"

"Oh, about that. We were hungry and wanted breakfast…" Started James.

"Then we tried to wake you guys up, but you couldn't hear us I'm guessing, and we didn't want to go wake your parents, sooo…."

"So, we camped out here and decided that we would wait for somebody to wake up, while we sat out here, because lord knows what would happen if we let James and Sirius in the kitchen, with Muggle appliances." Finished Remus, rolling his eyes playfully.

"Oh ok then. You know you could have just screamed pancakes, and bacon if you wanted to wake us up." Lily stated matter-of-factly.

"Well sorry if we didn't know that." Sirius said moodily, while James, Remus, and Lily glared at him.

"What!? I'm sensitive when I'm hungry." He whined, allowing his stomach to growl in agreement.

"OK, then I'll get the girls and we'll go down to get some breakfast. We'll cook, Remus you can help if you want. James and Sirius, you…. Well you guys can sit at the table and watch."

"K Lily, thanks. I don't think Barry would be able to go any longer without food."

"Barry?" Lily asked.

"Oh he's my stomach." Sirius stated.

"Um, ok. That's a little strange, but ok." Lily said nervously looking at Sirius, like he was a loon.

"Girls!" Lily exclaimed in a sing-song voice.

"What?" Three grumpy girls, groaned from under a mass of blankets, sheets, and a mountain of fluffy pillows.

"We're making breakfast!" Lily said excitedly.

"So…. It's like nine in the morning. We've only slept for like three hours." Said Alice, while doing the math in her head to double check herself.

"That may be true, BUT in the kitchen we can make, waffles, pancakes, eggs, bacon. The works."

At the words pancakes, and bacon the girls had eager expressions on their faces.

"Pancakes, and bacon!" The now awake girls shouted in unison, then gave out war cries. They all flew passed the boys, down two flights of stairs, and into the kitchen. Taking out the pans, waffles irons, ingredient, plates, and spatulas.

Meanwhile, the Marauders were walking down the stairs, sharing looks of bewilderment with each other. All asking the same question to themselves. 'What in the bloody hell was that all about?'. When they walked into the kitchen, they saw each girl with an apron on, with cooking materials around them. Alice's apron said 'WARNING! COMPLAINTS TO THE COOK, MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH!'. Morgan's said 'Don't make me poison your food.', with a skull and cross-bones in the middle. Lauren's said 'It isn't rocket science.' with a chef holding a burning pan on it.

Lily's apron was the most elaborate, most likely hand made, with a corny joke on it. It said 'What's safer: a redhead or a piranha?The piranha. They only attack in schools.' in red glitter, with a picture of Lily giving her best death glare, smack dab in the middle.

"What are you guys doing?" Remus exclaimed.

"Oh, we're having our annual breakfast, cook-off challenge." Said Morgan excitedly.

"We have to make a full blown breakfast complete with bacon, eggs, waffles, pancakes, and a drink for two people."

"Sirius, you can count as two people, since you eat like a pig. Lily your making James breakfast, along with yourself; Morgan you got yourself, and Remus; Alice you can make you and part of Sirius' breakfast, and I'll make the other half of Sirius' and myself."

"You guys are the taste testers." Stated Morgan.

"Yeah you have to rate each course on a scale of one to ten." Lily said while duplicating the supplies, so everyone had equal amount of everything.

"On your mark get set GO!" Sirius shouted, eager to be a taste tester.

By the time everything was cooked and the girls started eating Alice said,

"That was so much fun, we haven't done that since fourth year." Sighing contently.

"I know. We didn't even have to coax out taste testers to actually eat our food this time."

"I know. I mean Petunia is like stick in the mud stubborn." Lauren said irritatedly.

"Why are oranges called oranges, but limes not called greens?" Sirius asked, with a dazed expression on his handsome face.

The group just stared at him blankly.

"Is he always like that?" Lily asked slowly.

"Yeah pretty much. I tried to teach him a larger vocabulary once.. Lets just say my headboard has a head shaped like dent in it. It never has been the same." Remus said sorrowfully.

After the batter was cleaned from the walls, crumbs from the floor, and bacon bits from the table, the group went to the backyard, trying to teach the Marauders, Alice, and Morgan how to play soccer.


	6. The Game

"Ok since nobody here really knows how to play besides Lauren, and I. I am going to go ask some of my Muggle friends to come play. They're all really athletic, so this should be interesting."

"Oh Lils, don't invite that weirdo kid Evan over again."

"Yeah remember last time, when he like wouldn't let go of you when you gave him a hug good-bye."

"Oh and the time when he leaned in for a kiss, and a wasp flew by his head, so he started to spaz out."

"Didn't he hit you in the face when he was flailing around?" Alice asked.

"Er.. Yeah he did. OK I won't invite him, if he isn't around. If he is I can't just leave him there. So I'll be back in ten minutes ok?"

"K Lils. Good luck with that Evan kid!" Sirius called.

"Thanks Siri!" Making up a nickname on the spot.

After Lily left they all started conversing about Evan.

"I don't like the sound of this Evan kid. He seems a little shifty to me. Trying to take my Lily flower away from me! I'll hex him if he even tries." James said menacingly, with a look of determination on his face.

"It's ok James. Lily doesn't like Evan like that. She dated him in the summer of third year. He was SO clingy it wasn't even funny. He would eat here, some times even sleep here, watched movies here. After the first week Lily was going crazy with him. He wouldn't leave her alone, so she broke it off. Poor kid, I think he was crying when he was walking through the garden. Oh well you'll meet him soon enough." Morgan explained.

As soon as Lily got to her friend Abby's door all she could hear was blaring country music, with dogs barking in the back round. When she rang the doorbell, the music abruptly stopped, but the barking continued to get louder. She rang it again for good measure, and a voice in the house said.

"I'm coming, I'm coming. Don't get your knickers in a twist….. Lily!" exclaimed a short, brunette. Abby had an athletic build to her from all of the summers of volleyball, and soccer. She was always supplied with a nice tan, and had light green, almond shaped eyes, that sparkled when she was either on the court, or the field fighting for possession of the ball. She was in short a ball-hog, when it came to competitive games.

"I haven't seen you all summer! Where have you been? How's that magical boarding school of yours? Why didn't you come visit me earlier?" The brunette practically shouted all in one breath, besides the magical school part.

"Ok. I've been at home all summer, cooped up in my room reading books for school, and writing four foot essays on human transfiguration, the Fidelius Charm, witch burnings in the 1500's, a rather bloody goblin rebellion with avid details. A five foot essay on the properties of moonstone and it's uses in potion making, another on Vertisasreum, and Polyjuice Potion. Also I had to prepare Draught of the Living Death for Potions, predictions for Divination, and practice some spells for Transfiguration." Lily said all in one breath, almost gasping for air.

"Hogwarts is really been fun, this years my last year. Some of my friends are over from there. You can come meet them after I gather up the rest of the gang. We were trying to teach the guys how to play soccer." At the word soccer her eyes lit up mischievously.

"I didn't come and visit you any earlier because I was doing all of that homework." Lily finished smoothly.

"Ok wow. Sorry I yelled I can see you've been busy with all of that homework. I think professors, just love to torture you guys. I mean seven essays, a predictions journal, a potion to make, and spells to practice, along with those heavy books you guys lug around. Jeez. And sure I'll help you round up the gang. I'll take Court and Madi, you can get Rachel, Kris, and Anthony? I really want to meet these guy friends of yours."

"Well you know the Marauders I always complain about?"

"Yeah what about them?"

"Well that's who is staying at my house. Oh Alice, Lauren, and Morgan are there too. Yesterday James got hurt at Diagon Alley, so I took him back to m house to get patched up, then it kinda all fell into place. We watched 101 Dalmatians and Amityville Horror last night so….."

"Ok. I can't wait to meet the infamous Marauders, so come on lets go round up the gang."

"Ok meet me at my house in five?"

"Sounds good."

Ok Lily thought to herself. First stop Rachel and Evan's house, as she walked up Rose Rd. 3782 Rachel's place. As she rung the doorbell she closed her eyes, and prayed 'please don't be Evan, please don't be Evan, please don't be Evan!'

"Lily?" asked a male voice from the doorframe. She opened an eye, only to see a husky blonde kid, with sparkling blue eyes. His hair was spiked up in different directions. Not like's James' hair, his was gelled to stay spiked.

"Hey Evan." Lily said as she walked up to give him a friendly hug.

"Hey is Rachel there. I was wondering if you guys wanted to come over to my house, and teach some of my dorky friends to play soccer. They're a little wealthy, which means they didn't get to go be normal kids like you and me." Lily said shrugging.

"Yeah she's here. She just got back from a game actually, at the new Magnolia Ridge Recreation Center. I think she'd be up to meet some of your friends though. Just a minute." Evan said while retreating to go fetch his sister.

'Wow that was weird' Lily thought to herself. He didn't even hit on me when I gave him a hug. Or even at all for that matter. Oh well. Maybe he's moved on. Little did she know Evan read a book on how to 'charm' girls over the summer. He was using the 'be-subtle-be-her-friend-then-make-a-move' strategy.

"Hey Lily!" A voice in the distance squealed, breaking Lily from her thoughts about Evan.

"Rachel. Wow you look great. I love how you dyed you hair black. It looks really good on you."

"Thanks. Lily you look as good as ever." said Rachel beaming at the mention of her newly dyed hair; it used to be a light chestnut brown.

"Hey do you want to go teach some of my friends from school how to play soccer. The losers have never even seen a soccer ball before! Can you believe that?" Lily exclaimed with wide eyes.

"What!" screeched Rachel, who was very overprotective about the sport.

"Never played soccer! That's an outrage!" Rachel screamed, highly offended.

"We are going over there right this instance! Come on Evan we're going to Lily's!"

"Hold on first we have to go get Kris, and Anthony."

"Ok. Come on Evan!" putting emphasis on 'on Evan'

"I'm coming! Jeez. Who knew you took soccer so seriously?" he mumbled the last part under his breath.

"To Kris and Anthony's!" Lily exclaimed in her Marine General voice.

Once they marched onto their front porch, they just flew open the door, and let themselves in, not bothering to knock.

"Kris! Anthony! Come on get your butts down here! We're going to Lily's house to meet her friends and teach them how to play soccer. The losers have never even seen a soccer ball can you believe that? Hurry up!" Rachel exclaimed growing more fidgety as the seconds wore by.

"Lily's here?" Kris, and Anthony asked in unison.

"Yeah I'm here!" Lily shouted back up the stairs.

"Lily!" they screamed running down the stairs, tackling her to the ground in a warm embrace. Soon enough she had two handsome eighteen year old boys, acting like six year olds, pinning her down while hugging her all the same.

"We missed you so much. We haven't seen you all summer.." Started Kris.

"We were starting to think that you forgot about us" pouted Anthony

Kris and Anthony Gilmore were identical twins. They both had the same handsome features including: Light brown hair that fell elegantly into their dark chocolate brown eyes, a chiseled cheek bone structure, and a fang earring in their left ears.

"I could never forget about you guys. I've been cooped up in the house reading books, and writing essays for school all summer. I had like four 500 page books to read, and like seven essays, along with a science experiment!" Lily exclaimed.

"Ok. Yeah, yeah we can all catch up later. Right now we have to go teach these deprived children how to play soccer!" yelled Rachel in the most determined voice she could muster without laughing.

Marching down the street, they spotted their friends Courtney, Abby, and Madi. Once they reached them, they fell into step behind Kris.

When they reached the yard they spotted the group leaning up against a goal post, that they most likely conjured while Lily was rallying up her troops.

Walking over to them she yelled across the yard…

"You lot! Over here!"

Once they got over the girls greeted Lily's other friends while the Marauders waited to be introduced.

"Ok gang, this is Remus. He's the smart one in the group. Even though he doesn't even know how to play soccer."

"Remus this is Abby, Courtney, Madi, Kris, Anthony, Rachel, and Evan." Lily said in one breath.

"Hello Evan, Rachel, Anthony, Kris, Madi, Courtney, and Abby. I'm Remus."

"Hi Remus. Nice to meet you" the group chanted back.

"This is James. James these are my other friends from over here."

"Good to meet you all. Ok one question though. Which one of you is Evan." he asked pointedly.

"I am." Evan replied tentatively.

"Ok just wondering. Lily and the girls wouldn't shut up about you earlier. So I just wanted to know which one of you was partly responsible for the giggling that is still ringing in my ears." James said sending a half teasing glare in Evan and the girls direction.

"Last but not least. This is Sirius Black."

"'Ello people. After this do you guys want to hit a local club? I've always wanted to go to one down here, but didn't know any good ones."

"There's one called the Blue Margarita we could go to. It's pretty good. Every time you step on the floor it changes colors. I went down there for New Years one year. It was the coolest party ever. There were free drink, blaring music, all the signs of a good club." Said Abby excitedly.

"Sounds good to me, what about you guys? Want to go to the Blue Margarita?" Sirius asked hyperly, jumping on the balls of his feet.

"Ok now for the rules." Rachel drawled. Then she went into a fast paced speech on how to play. Even Lily was confused, and she already know the rules of the game. Then she had a brilliant idea.

"Um guys.. I'm going to go into the kitchen and bring out water bottles and stuff for us ok. You guys can set up, while we go get drinks. K?"

"Whatever you say Lily, just hurry up I want to get the game started." Madi said, starting to get agitated.

Madi had blonde hair, and blue eyes. Her hair was as straight as a pin, and she normally had a very nice personality. Every once in a while tough her temper would flare, and she would get easily agitated. Her best friend Courtney had dirty blonde hair, with bangs that shaped her face perfectly. The tips of hr hair were dyed jet black, and she had a few hot pink, sky blue, violet, and maroon highlights in her hair. She liked rock music, but was in between prep, and average girl.

Once Lily, her friends, and the Marauders she whipped out her wand, and tried to think of a spell. Once she remembered it she waved her wand in a very complicated figure-eight like shaped, and with a final flourish a jet of white came out of the tip. It encased them all in a giant pearl. Embedding their brains with the rules, and certain tactics of the game soccer. She created the spell herself in sixth year, when she wanted to learn how to climb the trees near the lake, so she could jump in from a high point.

"Um Lily? What the hell did you do to us?" James asked nervously.

"What do you do when the other team kicks the ball out of bounds past their goal, but not out to the sidelines?" Lily asked quickly.

"Your team takes a corner kick. Duh." Alice said.

"Wait how did you know that?" Remus asked.

"Yeah Alice, I thought you were athletically challenged…" accused Sirius, while Lily was smirking in the shadows, watching Alice struggle with the pressure of her friends.

"I charmed you to know, and remember certain rules and tactics of the game. I made up the charm myself. No big deal." Lily shrugged, as she conjured up some water bottles, and a cooler of ice.

"James, Remus carry the cooler. Everybody else follow me."

As everyone walked out of the house they were greeted by a bunch of pink cheeked teens.

"We were starting to wonder what happened to you. You guys took a while."

"Oh well they got confused by your speech Rachel, I fixed it though." Lily said, while smiling mischievously unnoticed by the others.

"Ok Lily, we decided you and Rachel are going to be captains, since our the most competitive, and it'll be fun to watch you try and shred each other to pieces." Anthony said beaming at the thought of a catfight. All they needed was mud now……

"Thanks, that makes me feel loved." Lily exclaimed sounding half-heartedly sardonic.

"Your pick first Lily." Kris said.

"We flipped a coin." he said answering Lily's unanswered question.

"Ok then I pick………….. Sirius." While smiling widely, and pointing at Sirius.

"Reporting for duty Captain Lily!"

"At ease soldier." Lily said mocking his sarcastic military tone.

"Ok Lily I'll match your pick of Sirius with Kris." Rachel said smiling almost evilly, while pointing in Kris' general direction. Not yet taking her eyes off Lily. As if she was Athena, trying to decide which way would be best to take her out in battle.

"Well if that's how your going to play, I pick Anthony." She exclaimed, but not without flashing a charming smile at him.

"Morgan, your mine!" Rachel said surprisingly. Then again she always liked Morgan the best out of Lily's school friends.

"Abby, your on left forward."

Abby cast a nervous glance in Rachel's direction. Rachel played right forward, which was Abby's left. She would be going head to head with the best player on the field. This made her uneasy, even if she was amazing at soccer.

"I see, I see, your tricky Lillian, very tricky." Lily groaned at the use of her real name.

"Lillian?" James asked chuckling.

"I wouldn't be laughing Potter your going to play left forward on my team. Which means your up against you dear Lily." Rachel smirked defending her friend, as James' face paled. He quickly regained his composure, and saw Evan tense at the comment of Lily being his. At this he smirked his trade-mark smirk. The Marauder Smirk.

"Thanks Rachel. Your still going down. Madi I choose you."

"Courtney, over here."

"This leaves, Lauren, Alice, Remus, and Evan… Who should I choose. Remus come here, your goalie. You look like you have good reflexes use them."

"Ok Lauren, I know you know how to play. You know what to do." Rachel called.

"Yes ma'am." she said while saluting her.

"Ok Alice your with me, Evan your with Rachel."

"Ok lets get started. Since Lily here got to pick first my team gets the ball. Lets have a pep talk first. Lily your team gets the goal by the big oak tree. Mine the pond. Ok"

"K Rachel. Ok team over here!" Lily called.

Once Lily and Rachel's teams got onto their respectable sides of the field, the captains called for a huddle.

(Lily's Team)

"Ok positions. Remus, your in goal there's a pair of gloves by the goal for you to use. Abby left forward, I know you can take Rachel. Just don't dive in to get the ball. General Sirius. You're co-captain. You are also going to be our mid-fielder. I've seen you run around the pitch at school, your good send the ball up to Anthony. He will be playing his normal position of striker. Anthony, I know you already know this but shoot into the high left corner. They won't expect it since your weak leg is your left. Madi, Alice your our defenders. Alice take the right side, Madi the left. Don't let anything past you. Got it? OK good. That leaves me to right forward. Ok get into position!" Lily exclaimed, the most determined most people have ever seen her, with a certain un-pinpoint able sparkle in her eye.

(Rachel's Team)

"Listen up! I'm taking the position of right forward. Which leaves goalie, midfield, defense, striker, and left forward. James I told you, you're facing Lily for teasing her about her name. Eh.. I don't want to hear it." Seeing James trying to get a word in, pleading innocence.

"I think Morgan here would be a good goalie. Even if she's not our defenders, that would be Kris, and Evan, won't let anything past them right? Right. Ok . For mid-field I think that would be………..Lauren can you run?"

"Yeah I mean at school I run around the lake once in a while."

"Ok that's good I don't know who the enemy's mid-fielder is, but I know you can take them. OK that leaves Courtney for striker. They're most likely going to play Anthony for striker over there, so you are smaller, faster, and more agile. I think that we have a good chance at this."

………………………………...(Game Time)

Mrs. Evans decided to see what the kids were up to, and got persuaded to ref. the game. When the kids were little she always used to volunteer, as a referee for the old rec. center, so she knew the rules quite well. She also knew these kids were willing to get down and dirty, to win. So somebody needed to be there to make the calls she thought rationally.

"Lets make this interesting……" Sirius randomly said, as they were about to do kick-off.

"If we win, your team has to go around and be our slaves for a day." suggested Rachel.

"Fine, then if we win then you guys have to… er. How about you have drink a whole gallon of apple juice in an hour, without puking!" Sirius countered childishly.

"What it's a good dare. It would be funny for them all to puke….. Well it would" he exclaimed.

"Ok deal…." Lily said while shaking Rachel's hand.

"Ok. Now that that's settled. Rachel's team has the ball. First one to five wins. On my mark. Get set. Go!!" Mrs. E said while blowing her whistle.

As soon as the whistle was blown, Lauren attacked the ball. She started to dribble up the field, but was blocked by a towering figure. Namely her boyfriend Sirius. He stood there with a determined, and completely serious (**A/N: no pun intended**), above her. He flashed her his most charming smile, making her weak at the knees. This gave his a chance to steal the ball, and run forward, laughing maniacally.

"I'll get you Sirius Black, and your little dog too!" Lauren screamed at his back laughing.

Sirius ran all the way up to the line of the second goal box before he was met with a defender. Evan met up with his half way. Sirius looked him in the eye, and passed in in the general direction he knew Anthony would be in. Lucky for him Anthony got to the ball before Kris did, leaving him a relatively, open shot at goal. He was Morgan start to run towards him, in pouncing position. He knew what was coming though from years of experience, countering her fake-out he aimed for the top left corner, and like Lily said, Morgan wasn't expecting him to know she was faking and he scored. He was met by a wolf-whistle form Remus, and beaming smiles from the rest of the team, minus Sirius who was smirking in Rachel's direction.

Two hours, many bloody noses, a sprained ankle, a bruised shin, and a fat lip later, the score was 4:3 to Lily's team. Rachel was down three players, while Lily was only down two. Morgan was sporting a sprained ankle, from trying to dive to save another goal shot by Anthony, but tripped in the process, hence the sprained ankle. James was also sporting an injury. Lily 'accidentally' elbowed him in the face, when he was trying to steal the ball from him. She got a yellow card, and he got a fat lip, and a penalty shot. He made the goal from the penalty shot. He started to jump up and down in triumph, but bit his already swollen lip and was benched. Evan was tripped and fell flat on his face, much to James' satisfaction, got an uncontrollable nose bleed.

All of these injuries were killing her, knowing she could fix them, but not being able to due to the fact her Muggle friends didn't know that she was a witch. The worst part was these were her friends. She couldn't stand to see them hurt.

She had a game to win though. Two of her players were out of the game to. Rachel kicked Abby in the shin causing her to limp, everywhere. It gave he a little peace of mind that she could heal Abby's injury. Since Abby knew about Lily and her friends, er, talents. Then there was Madi. She shared the same fate as Evan. Rachel came up to her. At first she was doing really good. That was until Rachel faked going left, and went right instead, causing Madi to trip over herself.

There was a penalty shot, to Lily since Kris, tried to trip her, and partially succeeded. Lily caught herself by using a mysterious burst of wandless magic, causing herself to momentarily float in mid-air startling Kris, making him trip instead of her. Even if it only was a second Alice, Morgan, Abby, James, Sirius, Lauren, Remus, and even Elizabeth stared at her open mouths, with expressions of pure shock written on their faces. It took an exceptionally powerful witch of wizard to perform this ancient type of magic. They would be around as powerful as Dumbledore, Voldemort, or even maybe Grindewald. Taking the momentary slip-up as a opportunity, Lily raced for the open goal and took a shot straight in of the middle of the net ending the game.

Everybody blinked barely registering the game was over. Mrs. Evans recovered first. She blew her whistle to make everyone else out of their trances. It worked. Sirius and Remus were next to recover. They ran over to Lily and started yelling with joy, Lily joining in. Abby limped over, Anthony, Madi, and Alice in tow. Screaming, jumping, and singing gleefully. Alice being the best singer on the team started singing a Muggle song, that she heard Lily singing on day in Fourth Year, after Gryffindor won the house cup. The song in question was 'We Are The Champions' By: Queen. They all hoisted Lily up on their shoulders, while Rachel's team was gathering their bearings for the next miserable hour they would spend drinking apple juice.

**(A/N: Ok I think that was long enough. It was like twice the length of all of the other chapters it took up like 10 pages on Microsoft Word so... Next chapter i have decided that they will all go clubbing, James, and Morgan will get drunk off apple juice since in my story it is like wine to a wizard. Any suggestions for the clubbing excabition to the Blue Margarita would be appreiciated.)**


	7. Cookouts and Clubbing

About an hour after the game Mr. Evans came home, and when he came home he decided that the winning of Lily's team deserved a cookout. So everybody was looking forward to the great, grilling of Michael Evans. On the menu for that night was hamburgers and hotdogs, provided and cooked by Mr. E. A fresh garden salad compliments of Elizabeth Evan's, fresh vegetables from her very own garden. An attempt at making French Fries from the Marauders. Abby was making her mom's famous Potato Salad. Kris and Anthony were helping Mr. Evans with the grilling. Morgan, and Alice were making waffles, just because well nobody really knows why they made waffles. Lauren was in charge of making the Iced Tea, fresh lemonade, and getting out the soda. Courtney and Madi, decided that they would make some special corn-on-the-cob. Rachel's favorite thing to do was marinate the ribs. She had always taken a liking to this job when they were little. She just liked marinating things. Adding her own flavor to it o make it as unique as her. Lily and surprisingly Evan were working on dessert together.

"Ok what should we make for dessert?" Evan asked briskly, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Hhhhhmmm…. Well we know that the Marauders will eat anything chocolate. We better make a double batch of what-ever we make that is chocolate due to Sirius' er.. Habits when it come to eating."

"What kind of habits would those be?" Evan asked curiously.

"Well Sirius tend to eat A LOT. I don't mean like and extra helping a lot. I mean like three extra helpings a lot."

"Even Kris doesn't eat that much. Remember three years ago at your dads Annual Summer Cookout Blowout."

"Oh god yes! He ate like two hot dogs two hamburgers, and a slab of ribs in less then ten minutes."

"haha yeah. Then he ended up puking all over Petunia's favorite pink bathroom rug." He said in a preppy girly voice. Lily just burst out laughing.

"Oh my god I remember that. She totally flipped out. She started crying when mom and dad didn't make Kris apologize, nor buy her a new rug, since she was being a brat."

"Yeah. Good times, good times. Ok lets get back on track with dessert" suddenly remembering that his book on how to get girls said about control. 'Most girls like it when a man takes control of the relationship, and show leadership.'

Lily was startled on how they went to reminiscence back to dessert so suddenly. It was like she was snapped back into reality, while she was having a perfectly good time bashing her sister discreetly enough so that it wouldn't be taken for what it was at least. She didn't really like it though. She obliged anyway.

"Erm. O-o-ok then" she stuttered uncertainly. Evan of course took this the wrong way. He thought she was stuttering, because she was nervous around him. Little did he know she was growing more, and more over-whelmed by this 'new Evan'. The old Evan would endlessly flirt with her, though only partially jokingly. Still. This 'new' Evan was creeping her out. With the not so subtle change of subject, over confident attitude that wasn't about asking her out (or so she thought), and the odd smirks he was throwing over in James' direction.

"Well we could do a few strawberry, and or blueberry muffins. I know Abby, Kris, and if I remember correctly Alice? All absolutely adore muffins." He said, drawling out the word adore, for far to long.

"Yeah Alice does love muffins. You should see he at breakfast, back at school. She's the Queen of muffins, at our table. She reserves a special basket for herself. In the beginning of last year, she stood up on the bench, and announced to the whole hall of her love of muffins. She said if anybody touched her 'special' basket they would have to answer to her. Even the professors laughed." Morgan said from behind, startling Lily who's back was to her.

"Don't DO that Morgan. You scared the crap out of me! You know I hate it when you do that." Lily whined.

"Yeah I know, It just keep getting better, and better every time." Morgan chuckled.

"Well I have to go give the cinnamon to Alice. I guess we are going to have cinnamon in our waffles for some reason." Morgan said rolling her eyes.

"K. Have fun with Alice!" Evan shouted across the kitchen, glancing in the marauders direction as he did so. Sirius was examining a potato, as if he never saw one before. James was looking at the bubbling grease, nervously. While Remus was doing the only correct thing ,out of all of them, to do when your making French Fries. He was attempting to skin the potatoes. He was skinning a wet potato, and it slipped out of his hand and straight into the back of Lauren's head. She spun around and chucked it back at them. Successfully hitting Remus between the eyes, and landing on the counter.

"Can you _believe_ them Lils?" Evan asked smirking.

"What?" Lily asked coldly. Evan noticed this, but shook it off telling himself that he imagined the iciness in her voice. So he continued his rant about how stupid they were.

"I mean really it's like they've never made French fries before. I mean really how think can you get? Am I right." He said sardonically, rolling his eyes. Lily knew that tone. It was the tone people like Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Black, Rodolphus Lestrange, and her ex-best friend Severus Snape used on her. It was a tone of disgust and disdain of somebody. Those somebody's were her friends too. Suddenly she felt really uncomfortable around Evan. Again Evan misjudged her, so he took her silence as agreement. With one last satisfactory disdainful smirk in the Marauders direction. He turned back to Lily and started conversing with her about dessert again.

They made chocolate brownies (a double batch for Sirius), muffins for Alice, Abby, and Kris, some key lime pie for Morgan and Remus, and an assortment of pudding for everybody else.

Since the gazebo was far to small to fit 16 people. Kris, Anthony, and Sirius set up some long foldable plastic tables. They started talking about Evan.

"So what's up with that Evan kid? Rachel's brother right?" Sirius asked conversationally as he hauled a table over to the middle of the yard.

"Oh he's always had the hots for Lily." Anthony said.

"Yeah, I mean I love Lily. We've all know her for pretty much most of our lives. We always used to play with each other when we were little, until Lily started going to that boarding school. I would give my life for her. I'm sure we all would. Evan though has developed an er." started Kris

"Severe liking to her more then a friend. Ever since Lily went away to school he never was really the same. Lily was like the mother of our little group. She was like always telling us about the bad kids on the block, even though she was only like nine, she was really mature for her age. She always steered us away from that sort of stuff." stated Anthony.

"Do you guys know why he was like giving me and my friends like a mega-death glare?"

"Sorry mate, I haven't got the slightest clue on why he hates you guys so much. It might be because you are friends from Lily's school. He always wanted to be closer to her. You have what he doesn't. I think he's jealous."

"He also doesn't like anything abnormal. Like how you guys looked like you've never seen a fryer before." Sirius laughed nervously at this statement.

"He sounds like her sister Petunia's type, more than Lils' type. I mean she is like so against even a spec of dust that's out of place."

"Well can you guys try to get him to lay off us. He's really starting to freak us out." Sirius asked.

"We can try, Evan is a tough cookie to crumble though." At the mention of cookies Sirius' ears perked up like a dogs.

"Cookies!?" He asked excitedly. Kris and Anthony started laughing at this.

"Well we'll try. We like you guys you know. You're cool enough for Lily to hang with, then it's good with us. It takes a lot for Lily to trust for some reason. If she trusts you, consider yourself lucky." said Kris smiling warmly at Sirius, like they've know each other as long, as they have Lily.

"Ok well thanks. That means a lot to all of us. Knowing you only for a few hours, and everything." Sirius says shakily.

"No problem mate, that's what friends do for each other." comforted Anthony carefully, and tentatively.

After they finished talking they went to go get the others, to help carry everything out. After the ribs, hot dogs, hamburgers, salad, a successful batch of French fries, potato salad, corn-on-the-cob, muffins, brownies, pie, pudding, and drinks were all set down on the table, people started to sit down. Mr. Evans at the head of the table Mrs. Evans to his right, James to his left. Next to James was Lily, who was next to Sirius, Remus, Anthony, Kris, Rachel, Evan, Courtney, Madi, Abby, Alice, Morgan , and then Lauren next to Mrs. Evans.

Evan decided he go into phase to of his plan to get Lily. Suck up to the parents.

"So Mr. Evans. I hear you lost a case the other day, about some prostitute was it?" Evan asked crisply. Mr. Evan's face hardened.

"Yes, yes I did. It was very unfortunate for my client." He replied shortly.

Phase two complete, Evan thought haughtily. Time to move onto phase three tonight at the club. The take-down as he referred to it.

Dinner moved on smoothly from there on. No more weird comments from Evan. All was normal. Until Sirius just had to ruin it. He claimed all of the brownies for himself, much to Lily's parents amusement, and to the others outrage.

"These are MY brownies!" Sirius shouted at Rachel.

"Sirius they're for EVERYBODY!" Rachel said irritated.

"No THEY ARE MINE!!" He exclaimed, as he got up from the table and ran off into the house cackling like a maniac. Lauren, Morgan, Alice, Rachel, Kris, Anthony, Evan, Courtney, Madi, and Lily all got up and chased him into the house screaming about having to share the brownies. Lily laughing so hard she lost her balance, and fell down on the grass. She just sat there laughing uncontrollably.

James did a double-take to make sure nobody but Abby, Lily's parents, and Remus were the only ones around. After he double-checked he whipped out his wand, with a VERY mischievous smile on his face. Abby and Lily noticed this.

Lily managed to laugh out a weak protest, knowing what he was about to do. Abby look interested about the scene folding out before her. While Mr. and Mrs. Evans looked at James like he was about to curse her daughter, while Remus was trying to reassure them through laughs of his own.

"_Rictusempra_" James shouted, laughing along the way.

If possible Lily started wiggle around even more, laughing even harder.

Mr. and Mrs. Evans look of mortification turned into confusion.

"He used a tickling spell on her." Remus explained to her parents, and Abby with a mischievous smile of his own. He took his wand out and used the same spell on James, and took the spell off Lily who was having a difficult time breathing, form laughing so hard. Once she saw James it just started back up again. She turned away and went back into the house to find Sirius, and her brownies!

When she got inside, she strained her ears for any sign of Sirius. She snuck up on flight of stairs. She looked around searching for any sign of brownies. Suddenly she felt a hot breath trickle down her neck. She spun around, only to see Evan's face an inch away from hers.

"Oh god! Oh it's you Evan. You scared me." panted Lily.

"You didn't want it to be me?" he pouted.

"Actually I was looking for Sirius and the Brownies." she said guiltily.

"Well you got me instead." Evan said happily, positively beaming that his plan was turning out so well. He had Lily on her own finally he thought hungrily. Abruptly he pulled her in close and kissed her fully on the mouth. Despite her squeal of surprise, protest, and her tears of hurt. Every time she made a sound, the kiss was deepened by Evan. He filled it with ten years of passion, his jealously of her school friends, the hurt he had when she dumped him, and the plain, cruel, hunger he felt for her.

Tears were steadily running down Lily's face now. She was so surprised that Evan would just be so spontaneous and _kiss her_. It wasn't just a little kiss either it was a one-way kiss that she had to be the receiver of. She tried to break free of his grasp multiple times. Every attempt she made, was denied by Evan. He was undoubtedly stronger than she. His firm grasp on her arm mad her fell like they were bruising. She was pushed up against the wall, his legs pinning hers to the same wall. Her arms got raised above her head, sometime. He let go of one of her, but quickly captured it in his other hand, trying to pull up her shirt.

He was just about there when he heard the shattering of breaking glass. Then he saw Sirius at the bottom of the stairs, with a broken brownie pan at his feet. His face was no more near even remotely handsome anymore. It was murderous. His usually handsome features were contorted. Contorted with anger, confusion, repulsion, a small bit of betrayal, and absolute hatred and disdain for Evan.

Evan was so scared, he almost peed his pants, right there on the spot. While running home like the little girl he was inside. Something made him stay though. The first thing Sirius said wasn't what he expected.

"James Potter, Remus Lupin." He said to nothing in particular. This confused both Evan and Lily. Personally Lily thought he was going crazy, until a voice came from his pocket that sounded extraordinarily like James' sounded.

"Yeah Padfoot what's up where are you? Lily went to go look for you and the brownies."

"Get up onto the second floor landing immediately." He said in a deathly calm voice, that chilled the spine, almost evil, but differently. The voice of a Black, some called it.

"Why what's wrong." Remus voice asked.

"Up. Here. Now" he barked.

No less then thirty seconds later Remus came bounding up the stairs, with James close behind.

"Hey what's going on up here?" Remus asked slowly.

"Why don't you ask Evan here?" Sirius said coldly.

"Well I was looking for Sirius and the brownies with everybody else, then Lily just jump up at me catching me by surprise, pinks me to the way, and starts kissing me." He spluttered.

"WHAT!" Lily screeched.

"That is NOT what happened! I was up here looking for Sirius and the Brownies. Then I felt somebody's breath on my neck. I find Evan standing behind him. We started talking. Then he just randomly starts kissing me. He pinned me up against the wall, and held my arms above my head. And he-he-he tried to take my shirt off. Then Sirius came down here…" She chocked out in a calm voice, until the end where she burst out sobbing and ran into James' outstretched arms. Her face buried in James' chest, Remus came up behind her and hugged her from behind. They knew Sirius would deal would Evan all to well. James and Remus led her up to her room, sat up on her bed, and spoke soothing words to her. They sat there for two hours, just talking to her and stroking her hair. Another hour later Sirius and a bloodied up Evan walked into the room. Lily hid behind Remus while Sirius forced an apology out of him, then shoved him back out of the room.

Soon all of them were laying on Lily's bed fast asleep. Their chest rising and falling in perfect sync with each other. Lily lay curled up in a ball in between James and Sirius. Remus lay at an odd angle slightly below her.

She wondered why she was in bed curled up against them. The previous night's events came flooding back to her. Her eyes started to well up with tears, at such betrayal. Evan _knew_ that she only wanted to be friends. He _knew_ that Lily wasn't kissing him back. Yet he still kept going. What a friend she thought sardonically. An eighteen year friendship ruined in one night.

She crept out of bed, trying not to move to much, so to not wake the sleeping boys that stayed with her all night an comforted her. She smiled at the thought of the three boys laying in her bed. She truly loved them. After six years of arguments on her and James' part. Nightly rounds with Remus as prefects together. Sirius just being there, being himself. She might have only just tied bonds with them only yesterday, but she had known them for six years before that. She really truly loved these boys. Remus and Sirius in a brotherly like way. James though was a different story.

She didn't know how to categorize James. She knew she loved him. It wasn't in a brotherly way, but not yet a romantic way. Last night when he was holding her she just… Well she fit.. She fit perfectly in his arms, like she was invincible. She felt like he would protect her from anything and anything that came her way. Even the killing curse. She just knew this. She didn't know how or why, but she did.

She just shook it off and started to descend down the stairs. Once she passed the living room she found nine sleeping bodies on the floor. All wrapped up in blankets, cuddled up to one another. All of her friends minus James, Sirius, and Remus had spent the night sleeping on the floor of all places, just to give her space. Well that made a tear trickle down her face. It wasn't a tear of sadness, or sorrow. But a single tear of happiness, and joy at the sight of her friends.

She tip-toed across the living room, into the kitchen, to see if there were any more of Alice and Morgan's waffles from last night. She was in luck there were around five more. She took two off the plate, and heated them up in the microwave. She got the butter and syrup out, and fixed herself up the waffles.

"Hey Lily." Abby whispered. Lily looked up startled.

"Oh. Hey Abby." she whispered back.

"Are you ok? After you know…" she trailed off.

"Yeah I'm fine. I just got to thinking of my real friends. Evan was always a little different, after well after I went to Hogwarts." Lily confided.

"Yeah, I don't know why but he was always talking about how if you guys didn't get back together then he was going over to the dark side. Well our dark side that is. Like with killing, raping and stuff. Not like Voldemort's dark side." She added hastily.

"Why didn't anybody tell me that!" Lily exclaimed in a strained whisper.

"We didn't want you to worry."

"You know what, did it ever occur to you that I could have helped Evan?"

"Well yeah actually it did. We just somehow knew that if we told you then it would just motivate him even more. So we didn't. Lils I think you need to tell them." Abby said quietly.

"Tell them what." Lily asked confused.

"You're a witch. You don't go to some boarding school in Spain, and that's why you won't go to college with us." She said sternly.

"You're right. As always. Thanks Abs." Lily said as she stretched her arms out for a hug.

"I'll tell them at breakfast."

"Tell who, what at breakfast?" Anthony asked groggily from the doorway.

"Huh? Oh hey Anthony. Well I want to say it when everyone's down here. Well at least all of you guys. It's… well it's important." Lily said shakily.

"Ok no problem well just wait 'til they all wake up." he said. Then started to mouth the words 'three, two, one.' When he got to one he opened his mouth out wide, and started walking towards the living room.

"WAKE UP! LILYS IN THE KITCHEN AND WANT TO TELL US SOMETHING!" he shouted, with a grin plastered on his face. Then he strutted back into the kitchen smiling.

"They should be in here in a minute."

"Nice one Anthony." Abby praised.

"Why thanks you fair maiden." He said bowing in the girl direction, while they were laughing.

"What' going on in here?" Madi asked.

"Oh yeah right. I wanted to tell you guys something. It's really important…." Lily said nervously, wringing her hands together nervously, all the while.

"Ok then lets talk about it over breakfast." Alice said happily, while going to the refrigerator.

Then Lily got a brilliant idea. She wouldn't have to directly tell them, if they saw the implication….. She whipped out her wand, form the waistband of her jeans, from yesterday and paused.

"No need Alice, I'll get everything."

Alice turned back to Lily with wide eyes, dawning with comprehension. While the others besides Lauren, Abby, and Morgan looked at her funnily.

"Um Lily. Why are you pointing a stick at the refrigerator?" Rachel asked unsurely.

"Oh. This is my wand, Rachel.." Lily stated matter-of-factly.

"Erm. Lily. We aren't five anymore. We don't play magic." Said Courtney, looking at Lily like she was insane.

"Oh I'm not playing watch." Lily said as she started thinking about a spell she could do. Then she got it.

"_Expecto Patronum_" Lily said blissfully. She chose a memory of all of them, when they were six, and seven years old. mini flashback They were all running around the pool in their normal clothes. Suddenly Kris trips and falls into the pool, clothes and all. Then Rachel goes to help him up, and he pulls her in to. Soon they're all in the pool laughing merrily and having a good time. ends mini flashback

Everyone in the room stood there slack-jawed, with their mouths open. Even Alice, Lauren, and Morgan. There was a silver doe walking around the room pompously, occasionally sniffing somebody.

"Wow Lily! I didn't know you could do a corporeal patronus.! That's really advanced magic. My mum works at the ministry in the experimental charms department, and she can't even do one!" Morgan exclaimed happily.

"So it's, it's real." Kris whispered.

"Yeah, it's real. I understand if you don't want to hang out with me anymore. That's why I didn't tell you, because I thought you would be like Petunia, and hate me for it!" Lily rambled on hysterically.

"So now I have a sister, and a whole group of friends who…"

"Lily stop! We do not hate you for this. It isn't your fault you're a witch. We all think it's bloody awesome actually. Why do you think you were undefeated at _Magic_ when we were little." Anthony said reassuringly, trying to calm Lily down.

"Yeah Lils. I mean sure we wish you went to school with us, but you know you belong in the magical world. It's your fate." Madi said soothing, her friend. Each word calming her more and more.

"Yeah. I mean Madi is right. You belong in the magical world. To me it sounds like your bloody amazing at magic, judging by the expressions of your other friends. Are they witches to?" asked Courtney.

"Yeah." Lily nodded meekly.

"Alice, Lauren, Morgan, James, Sirius, and Remus are all wizards, like me."

"You would think if they were magical, they would do something about Sirius and give him more of a brain." Rachel said rolling her eyes, at Sirius' antics from last night with the brownies.

"I am one of the top, of my class thank you very much!" Sirius exclaimed from the hallway, with a mock hurt expression on his face.

"Just because I'm not in the room doesn't give you the right to talk about me." Sirius said dramatically, putting a hand over his heart, shaking his head with mock disappointment.

"Come on Sirius. Drop the act. If you do how about we go to that club tonight. The Blue margarita was it?"

"Yeah" Sirius said excitedly.

"Well how about we go there, to celebrate the fact that we still have eight more days of summer left. We'll meet at my house say around 9ish tonight?"

"Sounds good to us Lily. We'll meet you at the door at nine. K?"

"Alright see you guys later." Lily shouted at the retreating backs.

(Lily's house 9pm that night)

"Lileeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" Mr. Evans yelled up the stairs.

"Yeah dad?"

"Your friends are here!"

"Tell them I'll be down in a minute!" Lily yelled back.

"Ok how do I look?" Morgan asked. She was wearing a darker shade purple strappy tank top, that was tight around the bust, then flowed out nicely and ended right at her amethyst belly-button ring. She had a white jacket over it. She sported a middle thigh length white leather skirt with purple jewels encrusted on the belt loops. For shoes there were short black heels, that had a string that criss-crossed up and down her legs until it reached her knees. She had on a light black eye-liner, with a dark purple eye-shadow on. She also was wearing a silver chain, with a heart dangling from it.

"You look great Morgan. What about me?" Lily asked. Lily was also wearing a strappy tank top, but in green. Her emerald studded belly-button ring glinting in the light. She also had on knee high boots, in black leather though instead of white. She was wearing a short dark jean skirt, higher then Morgan's. She had on black eye-liner with a small amount of mint green eye-shadow on. She had on a silver chain with her signature Lily pendant, that she got from an unknown sender for Christmas last year.

"Marvelous as always. You see me and Alice already know we all look drop dead gorgeous so come on lets go. I've never been to a Muggle club before." Exclaimed Lauren, sounding very much like Sirius. She was wearing a pale yellow tank top, that ended right at the top of the back pockets, of her light washed mini skirt. The top stood out from her dark hair, and complexion. It looked great. Her skin had a shimmery glow to it from her lotion. She had her hair curled and pulled back into a ponytail, with a few loose strands hanging in her face. She was wearing a heart shaped locket, with an enchanted picture of her and Sirius, by the lake at Hogwarts.

Alice was wearing a modest length midnight blue halter, that brought our her eyes beautifully. She was also wearing tight black leather pants, that ended at her black heels. She had on sapphire studs, in her ears. A heart necklace encrusted with small blue sapphires, that she got from Frank for Christmas last year.

They grabbed their clutches, and gracefully walked down the stairs, meeting up with their friends at the door. James, Sirius and Remus were already down there dressed in jeans, and different colored shirts. Remus had on a dark blue shirt, James a dark green, and Sirius a light black one.

"How are we getting to the club?" Courtney asked.

"We could apparate there. I mean the ministry won't be able to find out. Even if they did they wouldn't be able to prove it. You guys can do side-along with us." Morgan said hastily. Lily's muggle friends just gave her a quizzical look.

"Yeah that sounds good." agreed Remus.

"Here's a picture of the bar guys, so we don't splinch." James said, holding out a picture of a very lively looking bar.

"Ok Abby grab onto James' arm hold on tight. Every body do that to your partner. Rachel you can hold onto Alice, Kris can have Morgan, Anthony and Lauren, Courtney and Remus, Sirius and Madi. I'll go by myself. Ok. Lets go." As they all spun on their heels, getting the ever so familiar feeling of being sucked through an incredibly small tube. They arrived at the back of the bar with a crack, that sounded like a backfiring car. The fat, bulldozer of a guard looked back, to see the 13 teens walking up confidently towards him.

"May I see your IDs?" the guard asked gruffly.

"Yeah just a second. You guys give me all of your IDs so we don't all have to jostle each other around." Lily said to the chattering group. They all groped around their pockets until they found their IDs and gave them to Lily, who gave them to the guard.

"Ok, they look real enough, have a nice time at the Blue Martini." he said flatly.

Once they got in they were all awestruck. The bar must have had over 300 bottles of alcohol. The dance floor had at least 75 people dancing crazily. The DJ was even dancing to his own beat. They loved it.

After an hour Lily had downed two 'Sex on the Beach'es, a martini, and a glass of wine. She was dancing with a bunch of guys, on the dance floor highly amused by the changing colors of the floor. When she spotted James she waved him over.

"Hey Lily. Whoa how much have you had to drink?" He asked sternly while handling a drink of his own.

"Only two." she tried to sound innocent but was failing miserably, slurring her words.

"Lily"

"Ok ok maybe four."

"What!" he yelped.

"Four"

"Yeah I heard you, I just don't believe it. Rule abiding, prefect, teacher's pet Lily Evans drunk at a muggle bar."

"Hey I am not a teacher's pet!" She slurred.

"Come on lets go find the others, I want to see how drunk they are." He lied.

He led Lily over to Alice, who was sitting in the corner completely sober, tapping her foot to the rhythm of the music.

"Hey Alice." James said. Suddenly there the sound of shattering glass to their right. A jet of green light whizzed past them, and hit an innocent bystander who was now dropping to the floor.

"Alice! Take Lily home, alert the ministry, then come back here to help fight, I'll round up the others, and we'll hold them off until the ministry gets here."

"Death Eaters…" Alice whispered. Then she nodded grabbed Lily by the arm and apparated into Lily's room.

(At the Blue Martini)

After Alice left, a fierce battle broke out. Countless muggles died. James, Sirius, Alice, and Remus were each battling two Death Eaters each. Lily's muggle friends were safe at her house, since Morgan apparated them all back. Now she was back and was fighting a particularly nasty Death Eater of her own. Lauren had her own Death Eater, and there were spell ricocheting of walls, and blasting apart bottles of alcohol from the bar.

Alice was battling a Death Eater with long blonde hair suspiciously like Lucius Malfoy's, and Antonin Dolohov who had graduated the year before from Hogwarts. James was battling Severus Snape, who's mask fell of during the duel, and Augustus Rookwood, who worked in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic. Sirius was dueling his dear cousin Bellatrix, and her new husband Rodolphus Lestrange. Remus was dueling two masked Death Eaters, dodging spells with great skill. Lauren was battling Amycus Carrow, while Morgan had his sister Alecto. It was an equal battle.

James stunned Rookwood, and was now head to head with Snape. He heard Snape say an incredibly dark curse aimed straight at him.

"_Sectumsempra_" Snape bellowed.

James just barely dodged it. Thank god for his Quidditch reflexes he thought. He sent back a curse of his own. It hit Snape dead on and turned him to stone. ('Duro' used by Hermione in DH during the battle of Hogwarts.)

After several minutes the duel was taking a turn for the better. Dumbledore showed up, along with a bunch of other Ministry members. They Death Eaters all had the sense to flee, and that left James, Sirius, Remus, Morgan, Alice, and Lauren to be standing in the ruins of the bar.

After two hours of constant questioning from the Ministry members, they were finally free to go. They apparated into their respectable rooms, and passed out, as soon as they hit the pillows. Not even bothering to change into pajamas.

(A/N Wow… That took a LONG time to type… I don't know what to do for the next chapter now!! shrieks in panic I need review stat. I haven't the slightest inkling of an idea. HELP)

Love your author,

Brittney

Chapter 8: undefined


	8. Back To Hogwarts

**(A/N: Ok for those of you who actually responded to my announcement thank you. I have decided with the help of PottersLittleSister, HGHPlove4ever15, 08BeautifulDreamer09, andGin M. Weasley to make longer chapters, because short chapters are just boring, and tedious to read. Now that that has been covered on with the story. theme music plays)**

Boys room, Lily's house (Remus moved in with James and Sirius because he got lonely sometimes, without his best mates to talk to at night.)

alarm rings in back round. (8:30 AM)

The three Marauders groaned loudly. Remus who was closest to the alarm clock, threw it against the wall so hard it shattered into thousands of pieces, so now they had no alarm.

Two hours later……

Lily and the girls were downstairs eating a well deserved breakfast, after some cough all cough last minute packing for about two hours. (Besides Lily.)

"Where are those boys? Shouldn't they be down here by now? Are they still packing!? We have to leave in like ten minutes!" Fretted Mrs. Evans.

"I don't know mum. Here we're finished we'll go check on them." Lauren said politely. Since Lauren's parents treated her so badly, she thought as Mrs. Evans as here own mum, seeing as she was always at the Evans' anyways during holidays.

"Ok thanks Lauren. You're a doll."

"No really, it's nothing. Ok come on now, we have to go get the boys, and get our trunks." Lauren exclaimed.

"Coming… Coming, jeez, hold your hippogriffs." Morgan said crankily. She still wasn't awake even though they woke up about two and a half hours ago.

The girls skipped up the stairs, and into the boy's room. Lily smiled mischievously at the sight of the sleeping boys. She whispered her plan into the girls ears, and now they all had grins on their faces.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKK" All the girls shrieked, the loudest, and highest pitched shriek they have ever done.

"AAHHH!" All of the boys yelled in return.

"Bloody hell women!" Exclaimed Remus, who was not one to curse lightly, while rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"Yeah what the hell was that about?" James yelled.

"I was getting my beauty sleep. I need at LEAST 10 hours of sleep each night." Sirius said flustered.

"SSSPPPIII… SSSPPPPIIIDDD…." The girls stuttered.

"Spit it out!" Sirius exclaimed, still mad about his lack of beauty sleep.

"SPIDER!!" They all screamed.

The boys were deathly afraid of spiders, after one night in the forest. They were doing detention with Hagrid, and accidentally wandered into an Acromantula lair. So ever since at the smallest mention of a spider they all freak out.

"Eeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkk" They all shrieked, like the girls. They rapidly started lifting up their legs off the ground, pulling their sheets up, and burrowing themselves under the blankets, with a fearful look daring to cross their practically fearless features.

The girls couldn't stand it anymore, they burst out laughing holding onto each other for support. Their knees gave out and they were left literally rolling on the floor laughing. Once they saw the boys fearful look turn to one that suggested they were crazy, a fresh wave of giggles washed over them.

"What is so funny!" Remus demanded.

"The look……." Alice choked,

"…your faces.." Lauren added.

"…practically.." Lily attempted to say through her laughter.

"..priceless.." finished Morgan.

"So there was no spider??" James asked with the relief showing in his eyes.

"No James, there is no spider." Morgan said calmly.

"Phew, because we hate spiders." Sirius said matter-of-factly

"Really!!" Lily exclaimed with wide-eyes.

"Yeah. I mean one time with saw Acromantulas in the forest!" Sirius exclaimed hands flailing everywhere, so the girls could imagine how huge they were.

"I can't believe it. I mean I thought I was crazy in third year, you came running in the common room with crazed expressions on your faces. You claimed that you had seen them in the forest. I thought it was a dream." Morgan said sarcastically, with a smirk on her face.

Sirius missing the sarcasm responded, "No it wasn't a dream it was real." while nodding his head.

"Ok sorry to interrupt your little chat here, but were leaving in like five minutes." Alice said coolly.

"FIVE MINUTES!!" The boys shouted.

"Well you guys are packed right?" Lily asked fearfully.

"No we were going to do it this morning!" James said looking around the room seeing a pair of boxer conveniently laying over a lamp.

"Well I'm packed." Remus drawled with an air of common sense dripping from his voice.

"Yeah, and that's all fine and swell for you Moony, but me and Prongs here haven't even started!" Sirius fretted.

"Why don't you just use a packing charm?" Lily asked like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Packing charm?! Packing charm?" Morgan shrieked.

"You woke me up at 8 flippin' thirty in the morning to pack, when I could have done a packing charm!!" Morgan shrieked again.

"Well I thought it would be…… amusing, to see you guys all pack and stumble over your things, while I watched."

"Lily just show us the damn charm! We're going to miss the train!" Sirius shouted.

"Ok, ok keep your knickers on Sirius." Lily said irritated, rolling her eyes at his tactlessness.

"Packus rombilious." Lily said shortly.

"There happy now?"

"Yes very much so, thanks." Sirius said coolly, still upset that he was woken up.

"Ok, then we have four minutes, thanks to them." Alice said.

"Oh, and you guys might want to eat." Morgan said her hair slapping Sirius in the face as she turned on her heel, and left the room.

After four minutes of complete and utter chaos, everybody was set and ready to go. Everybody was down in the living room holding their trunks, bracing themselves to apparate to Kings Cross.

"Thanks Elizabeth and Michael for having us." Remus said politely.

"Yeah thanks Mr. and Mrs. E. We had a lot of fun." James and Sirius said groggily.

"Oh it was our pleasure." said Elizabeth waving her hand at them signaling it was nothing.

"By mum. See you at Easter!" Lauren and Lily said in unison.

"Ok dears, be good. Study hard, owl us often, and be safe." Mrs. Evans said while giving them each a hug and a kiss on the head, catching James twice.

"Ok bye!" They all chanted. With the distinct crack of apparation, they all disappeared from the Evans' house and arrived at Kings Cross with a minute to spare.

They all hastily lugged their trunks onto the scarlet steam engine. They went to the usual seventh year Gryffindor compartment, and dropped their stuff off.

"Ugh. Why does this compartment have to be at the BACK of the train. I mean it's the farthest form the front!" Alice complained.

"I know. So much walking! The Heads compartment is at the front to! I have to walk ALL the way back up there. AND I have a Slug Club meeting! This is NOT going to be a very good trip, I can tell already."

"Well come on Lily, don't want to be late for the prefects meeting." James said hurriedly.

"Wait. What are you talking about James? Your not a Head, or a prefect for that matter." A confused Morgan said.

"Well the badge on my chest states differently." James stated while pointing to his chest, and walked out of the room confidently. The rest of the compartment stood rooted to the spot, mouths agape until Remus, Alice and Lily chased after him, not wanting to be late for the meeting.

They ran until they got to the front of the train. When Remus open the door the meeting was in full swing. All of the prefects were listening to James attentively, until they saw Lily leaning on the door, clutching a stitch in her side, panting.

"Evans! Lupin! I see you've decided to join us." James said in a mock jovial manner.

"What's the mud-blood doing here?" Lucius Malfoy asked cruelly.

"I Malfoy," Lily said regaining her composure. "am Head Girl this year."

All the Slytherins groaned in protest, while James groaned in their direction.

"As if a blood traitor wasn't enough." Narcissa Malfoy grumbled.

"Detention Black!" Lily said radiating with authority, as she paced around the compartment.

"James, continue where you left off, please." Lily said calmly, sitting down in an empty seat in the process.

"Ok. Patrolling schedules.." he said clapping his hands together.

"Everyday from 9-10 two pairs will be patrolling the castle. Mondays: Gryffindor and Slytherin 7th year prefects. Alice and Remus you have floors four through seven, including the Astronomy Tower. Narcissa and Lucius you have the dungeons-the third floor. Tuesdays: Hufflepuff and Slytherin 5th year prefects. Wednesdays: Slytherin and Ravenclaw 6thyear prefects. Thursdays: Gryffindor and Ravenclaw 5th year prefects. Fridays: Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff 7th year prefects. Saturdays: Gryffindor and Hufflepuff 6th year prefects. Lily and Myself will be patrolling every night from 10-12, including Sundays. Anything to add Lily?" James said pacing the room as he did so.

"Erm, yes in fact I do. We will have a prefect meeting every Thursday at 7pm. Also you just need to patrol the train every once and a while, and you can leave. Meeting adjourned." Lily said standing up, getting ready to go to her Slug Club meeting.

Suddenly there was a huge BANG that shook the whole train.

"W-w-what was that?" A fifth year Gryffindor girl by the name of Katie asked.

"Death Eaters." Lily whispered.

"Ok everybody stay calm. Lily and I are going to go check it out. Go to the compartments and tell them there has been an attack, and to stay down." James ordered.

"Come one Lily."

James and Lily made their way to an empty compartment, and looked out the widow. There were hundreds of black cloaked figures standing in the passing field. They were shooting spells at the train like no tomorrow. The enchantments on the train were quickly fading.

"James.."

"Yeah Lily."

"I have an idea, but it is really stretching it. I think it might be our only chance against this many Death eaters though. We can't endanger all of the students soo…" Lily said shakily.

"Go for it Lil I know you can do it." James said encouragingly.

"I am going to put the Fidelius Charm on the train."

"Are you sure Lily? That is seriously advanced magic. Like Flitwick, is one of the only few people that can actually do the charm." James said unsurely.

"James it's our only chance of getting all of these kids to Hogwarts safely." Lily snapped.

"Ok try it. It takes a lot of magical ability so you might like faint." He said lamely.

"James. I'm doing the spell, they're almost through the boundaries! Break the window."

"What?" asked a bewildered James.

"Just do it!" Lily yelled exasperatedly. James broke the compartment window, and Lily stuck her willow wand out the hole, and said the incantation. Suddenly a blueish white dome enclosed the train. It burst, and a tiny piece of the light went into every single student's soul concealing it.

"James your secret keeper. Tell NOBODY except Dumbledore, and McGonagall. Got it?" she said faintly, right before everything went black and she fainted in James' arms.

Five minutes later she woke up, James holding her just like she fell.

"Hey thanks, for letting me… erm well pass out on your lap." she said jokingly, yet seriously.

"No problem. I suggest we tell the other students what happened."

"Sonorus" Lily muttered under her breath.

"Students! This is your Head Girl Lily Evans speaking! I have placed the Fidelius Charm on the train. We have a secret keeper that I would trust with my life." She looked meaningfully over at James, and smiled, then continued. "We are all safe at least until we get to Hogwarts anyways. For those of you who do not know. The Fidelius Charm is a piece of very advanced magic, that conceals one's should in the hands of a secret keeper. Should the Secret Keeper decide to release the secret, the person who they have released the secret to will be able to find, whoever's soul is concealed. So your safe, go back to what ever you were doing, and be on your guard." Lily finished.

"Lils I just want you to know that was really brave of you. Also thanks for saying you would trust me with you life. It means a lot. Oh and don't you have that meaning with Slughorn now?"

"h my gosh James, your right I've got to go." Standing on her tip-toes she gave him a lingering kiss on the cheek subconsciously.

James, felt the place on where Lily Evans the girl of his dreams', lips met with his bare skin burn. He gazed mesmerized at the girl walking away from him, with awe.

Briskly walking towards the compartment, in which the meeting was held Lily wasn't paying attention to her surroundings, and ran into something warm, hard, solid suspiciously like a person. Her and her victim both fell to the train floor with a thud.

"OH I am ssssoooo sorry!" Lily exclaimed concern flooding her face. Once she saw who it was she blushed deep red. It was Joshua Davies, the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain. He was the fourth hottest guy in Hogwarts, next to Sirius, James, and Remus of course.

"Hey Lily." He said coolly, while standing up and regaining his composure.

"I'm so sorry for running into you like that. I-I-I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. Just so much to do, and term hasn't even officially started yet." Lily said exasperatedly, stress embedded in every word.

"Chill Lily. It's ok. It's as much as my fault as yours." Joshua apologized.

"You going to the Slug Club meeting." Joshua asked, eye-brows raised inquiringly.

"Yeah I was just on my way there." Lily said.

"May, I walk you there?" He asked flirtatiously.

"Of course kind gentleman." Lily said and took his awaiting arm.

"Hey Lily, what are you so stressed about? I mean like you said term hasn't even started yet."

"Oh well I'm Head Girl this year so I have Head responsibilities. Slughorn praising me every second, during the meeting, and classes. The attack! I mean that is the second time that has happened to me in two weeks! We got attacked at a club, by my house. Don't even get me started on NEWT's I'll go into lecture mode. All of the extra homework we're going to have, and this morning the Marauders just wouldn't wake up! We had like 10 minutes left to get ready before they woke up! Ugh." Lily said nervously putting a hand on her forehead.

"The Marauders stayed out your house this summer?" Josh asked curiously.

"Yeah only for like a week and a half though. Me and my muggle friends tried to teach them soccer." Lily said rolling her eyes.

"Soccer??"

"Muggle sport."

"Aaahh,"

"We're here." Lily said.

"Lily! Josh! My dear children. Come in, come in." Slughorn said overly jovial.

"Hello professor." Lily said sweetly, while Joshua scowled. You see Josh didn't like Slughorn that much, for unknown reasons. It could have been the fact that he won a Potions Master award over his father. That's just a guess though. Slughorn however seemed to think that Joshua would go far in life, as did his father.

Two hour and many finger sandwiches later they were free to go. By now it was dark out, and you could see Hogwarts in the distance. It had magical aura about it. (No pun intended) The stars sparkling in the crystal clear night above. From here Hogwarts looked like it was from a muggle fairytale.

As Lily made her way to her compartment, she heard a surprised shriek towards the end of the train. Knowing the possibilities she sprinted down to the corridor to find quite a scene emerging. Quickly she whipped out her want in a fluid movement, and cast a silencing charm, so her friends wouldn't attract unwanted attention.

"POTTER! BLACK! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!" Lauren shrieked. Lily turned the corner to find a fuming Lauren covered in Stinksap.

"We didn't do anything." James and Sirius whined innocently. Their tones were convincing enough, but the mischievous glints in their eyes ruined the otherwise perfect image. Oh and I forgot to mention the fact that their wands were poorly concealed behind their backs.

"Don't give me that Black!" Lauren bellowed, sounding very much like the Lestrange that she really was. (Lauren Lestrange is her name. I just didn't mention it in the beginning. Sorry about that. blushes)

"I don't know what your talking about Lestrange." James said sarcastically.

"POTTER! You know damn bloody well what I'm talking about!"

"Lauren!" Lily yelled, making her presence known.

"Lily! Thank god! Can you give these ID 10 T's a detention? Please?" Lauren pleaded. (ID 10 T Idiot for those of you who couldn't figure that out.)

"Well it was just an innocent prank Lauren, lighten up besides… Scourgify…your all clean now. No big deal." shrugged Lily.

"WHAT!!" Lauren shrieked shrilly. James, Sirius, and even Remus had triumphant smirks planted on their face, for the simple fact that Lily had never called their pranks 'innocent'. Normally it was more like idiotic, peccant, iniquitous, in short bad things.

"Lauren! Calm down! I cleaned it all off you, drop it." Lily said in a unusually harsh tone. The train came to an abrupt halt, and they arrived at the Hogsmeade station.

(AN: I know this is like a cliffy and I just really wanted to post, so here it is..)


	9. A Cold Wet Awakening

When the scarlet steam engine, better known as the Hogwarts Express, arrived at the Hogsmeade station, it was raining Nifflers and Kneazles outside. Wind and rain slashing into the train violently, intimidating the students with wild shrieks of wind. Everyone was screaming and sprinting to the carriages as best they could, hands above their heads running for cover.

Lily, Remus, and Alice were the only prefect left, to ensure everything was going smoothly in the organized chaos, they were now faced with.

While Lily, Remus, and Alice were frantically running around helping people, the Marauders (minus Remus of course), Lauren, and Morgan were heading towards a familiar voice. Near the thrashing waves of the Black Lake, stood a half-giant game keeper of Hogwarts.

"Firs' Years! Firs' Years ove' here! Firs' Years!" Hagrid yelled cheerfully. His booming voice could be heard over the loudest of shrieks, from the wind itself.

"HAGRID!" James cheered, while running up to the half-giant embracing him, while Hagrid gave him a rib-crushing hug of a lifetime.

"How's the puppy Fang?" Sirius inquired, exited. He had an abnormal love for animals. Especially dogs. (A/N: I wonder why that is... Hmmm thinks in mock wonder)

"Eh' he's jus' thrivin'. Growin' like a weed, he is." Hagrid replied happily, bouncing on the balls of is feet.

"Firs' Years!" he bellowed again. "So James, I heard 'yeh made Head Boy this year. Shouldn't 'yeh be helpin' Lily?"

"Oh crap! I'll see you guys later!" James yelled over is shoulder, sprinting towards the carriages. He occasionally stopped, and chatted with people he knew, that realized no matter how fast they ran they were still going to get soaked. After about ten minutes he remember he was supposed to be looking for Lily. He ran around for the better half of five minutes without any luck.

Eventually he just gave up and sat down comfortably in an empty carriage. Soon it was filled with ditzy Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff girls in his fan club. Now he knew he should have just went with Remus when he told him to. He felt an immense amount of pressure on this theigh. He snapped out of his daze to find two girls, sitting on his lap twirling their hair around their fingers in a suductive manner.

"James? You know, I need some help in Transfiguration. Maybe you could... help me." A girl named Claudia said suductively. She was a blonde haired, brown eyed girl. She must have been the worst in their year he thought, but was to polite to turn her down in front of her friends.

"Erm, sure Claudia. Anything for you." Then smiled his signature cocky smile, the charmed the girls to be weak at the knees. Every girl but Lily.

"Aw! Thanks Jamie! You are sssooo sweet!" praised Claudia.

"You know James, if you ever just want to hang out, I'm always open." The other girl on his lap named Sophia said, while the other girls in their carriages glared jealously.

The carriage finally got to the school, after five torturous minutes for James. Once he stepped out he spotted a girl standing in the only dry spot in sight. His girlfriend Renee was looking through the crowd with raoming eyes, undoubtedly looking for a special somebody.

"Renee!" Her head looked around for the deep voice that yelled her name.

"James!" she squealed pulling off running towards him shoving through the crowd, in four inch heals, without any problems.

"I missed you ssooo much this summer. You never owled me!" she pouted.

"I thought you loved me."

"I do! I do! It's just I was really, really busy this summer. I got Head Boy, so my dad made me read his old handbook, seeing as I never follow the rules." He explained hastily. In reality it only took an hour. He never gave Renee a second thought over the summer. He was to busy causing mayhem with the Marauders, and torturing his little sister with Sirius. She was going into her fifth year this year.

"Oh, well you could have at least scribbled a short letter to me telling me that! I was so worried you like... died or something." she finished solemnly.

"If I died, don't you think I would have told you?" He joked lightly, stroking her cheek. She apparently didn't find the sarcasm.

"You know. You're right. I'm so sorry I ever doubted you, pookie." bringing him into another hug, then a sweet kiss. Now James didn't really like Renee all that much. At the end of last year he thought he couldn't leave school without a girlfriend. The thought of him going home over the summer without a girlfriend sounded foreign to him at the time. Now he thought it just sounded stupid replaying his thoughts in his head. Renee was just another one of his fan girls that he snogged with, then broke their hearts, as a tool to get over a particularly nasty fight that he and Lily would have.

Renee saw the dazed look her boyfriend had in his eyes, and decided to break his thoughts. She pulled him into a petty, passionate kiss. To her pleasure his eyes snapped into reality at the feel of her lips on hers.

'Her lips taste really good' James thought. They're so glossy, and they taste like cherry chap stick. While they stood rooted to the spot kissing, things got more heated for Renee. She started running her hands through his hair, and she was giving his little kisses down his jaw line. Suddenly he pulled away.

"Come on. Lets go up to the feast." He said. "I'm starving. I didn't even get a big breakfast. Lily woke me up five minutes before we had to leave. Five minutes!" he exclaimed trying to keep walking. There was a problem though. Renee was clasping his hand very tightly and was just standing by the steps, with a stony expression.

"You were at Lily's house. Lily EVANS? Doesn't she hate you? Because last time I checked you guys ended the year in a duel. Remember that? You lost. She cursed your head to be inflated five times it's normal size." Renee said icily.

"Erm, no I didn't mean Lily Evans. Psh. Why would she let me stay at her house she hates me, like you said." James replied nervously.

"Lily who then? I only know one Lily, in this school, and that's Evans."

"My Aunt Lily." he said as if it was obvious. Then again, he was a world class liar.

"Why don't you call her Aunt Lily then?" Renee countered.

"Well you see, that makes her feel old. She's very sensitive about her age."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense." Renee said reasonably, soaking up the lie.

"Ok lets get to the feast, I'm starved." James said, with relief washing over his face.

* * *

Alice, Remus, and Lily were walking up the windy path of Hogsmeade trying to get to Hogwarts. All of the thestrals left with the carriages ages ago. They unfortunately weren't done checking the train for stragglers, so they missed the carriages and had to walk, in the the cold freezing rain.

All of their teeth were chattering from the cold rain, and the wind that made it even worse. Remus being the gentleman he is, lent the girls his jacket, even though it didn't help much. To them it felt like Remus' large jacket was plastered to their skin, as another layer.

"I am s-s-s-sooooo c-c-c-c-oolllddd!" Alice complained, through her chattering teeth, and quivering chin.

"S-s-s-s-soooo are we." Remus and Lily shouted back over the wind.

"Well then.." Alice countered.

"Why didn't James come and help us? I mean he did amazing at the meeting, and then he just ditches us." Lily asked still perplexed about the confusing thing we call reality.

"I'm not sure..." Remus said slowly.

"Maybe he forgot." Alice shrugged warily. Apparently this was the wrong thing to say to Lily, who was tired, hungry, irritated, cold, and wet.

"FORGOT!? FORGOT!" Lily shrieked shrilly. "He can't have forgotten. Remus specifically went up to him and asked, and I quote 'James do you want to come patrol with me, since your new.' He didn't accept. That means he just deliberately left his duties to go wreck havoc with PEEVES! I mean..." She would of continued her rant on James out loud, but Alice and Remus both had their wands out pointing at Lily.

Lily being so annoyed at James just kept walking, thinking that her fellow prefects could hear her, while in reality she had a silencing charm. It took her until they reached the oak front doors to realize she was silenced, in which she discreetly pulled out her wand, and did a Full Body Bind curse on them, while they were laughing at the look on her face.

It was Lily's turn to laugh as they went rigid on the spot, and toppled over onto the wet hall. She muttered 'Finite Incantum' and her friends were back to normal, laughing along with her. They walked into the Great Hall right smack dab in the middle of Dumbledore's Start of Term Feast.

They walked in dripping wet in water and mud. From head to toe they were doused in mud. Each step they took, a big muddy footprint was created. When they lifted their feet up their trainers made an odd squelching sound.

Since they had to walk all the way to the other side of the hall, there was a fair amount of puddles. Alice accidentally slipped on a puddle, and grabbed onto Remus for support. BUT Remus also slipped on the same puddle as Alice did only seconds prior. Of course his immediate reflexes told him to grob onto something close to him, also he wanted revenge for the Body Bind Curse. Unfortunately for Lily, that one thing near Remus was her left arm. She then fell ontop of all of them. They ended up in a mini-dog pile in the middle of the crowded hall.

Remus being the Marauder he is abso-bloody-lutely loved the attention he was being given. So he did a very Sirius/James like thing. He started encouraging the applause by waving his arms up, and putting his hand to his ear, signaling they weren't screaming loud enough. The crowd obliged. Even some of the teachers joined along. Sirius' loud, deep, bark-like laughter rang throughout the hall. It was causing the whole school to go into an anewed wave of laughs.

Alice, and Lily timidly got up, more than intimidated by all of the attention, and tried to cover their faces with their hand, as if they could become invisible. Unfortuneatly on their part Remus grabbed both of their hand, laughing all the way at their mortified faces, and made them bow to the student body. **(Not respectfully, but in a way that says 'The musical finished, and the cast had to take a bow' kinda of way)** This earned him a playful punch in the arm from Alice AND Lily. Both taking a shoulder, they dragged him towards the Gryffindor.

Still wet they finally made it over to the seats that were aspecailly saved for them, courtousy of Lauren and Morgan.

Lily automatically rounded on James, seeing as his was sitting right across from her.

"Why weren't you helping with our Head duties after we got off the train." Lily asked in a hoarse whisper (Professor Dumbledore started talking again).

"Well as soon as I realized I was supposed to help, I came looking for you guys. I looked for about ten minutes and couldn't find you!" he whined innocently, with puppy dog eyes. They had nothing on Sirius', but they were cute.

"Yeah, sure. You don't need us to be a rolemodel James. All you had to do was help people get into the carriages, and make them calm the bloody hell down, so other people could actually get to the carriages!" she practically cried.

That got James mad. How was he supposed to know what to do! I mean he was new to this. Wasn't he? He wasn't a prefect was he? He was a total prankster at heart wasn't he? Yeah he was, no he wasn't, natrually of course he thought, answering all his questions.

"Well ssoorrryy if I didn't know that! I wasn't a prefect was I? No I wasn't. I'm new to this if you haven't noticed. I am a bron prankster. Just ask my sister!" He countered thoughtfully.

"You have a sister?" Lily asked anger forgotten, curiousity replacing it.

"Yeah. She's starting her fifth year this year. Her name's Amber."

"Oh I never knew that, you don't talk about her much." Then she remembered her anger.

"Oh yeah, well that's no excuse. Don't go play all innocent with me! You ran that meeting like an old time pro." she countered the original arguement.

"Eh." Lily said cutting off his retort.

"I don't want an excuse. I just want you to try better next time" she finished solomnly, dissapointment showing in her huge pools of emerald, that were her eyes.

"But,"

"Zip,"

"But,"

"Ah,"

"But! Just lis..."

"ggggrrrrrrrr" Lily growled with a hint of malice. The tips of her red hair igniting with flames, due to her anger, as they always did. James always thought it was cute, until one day after a particualarly loud shouting match, she flicked her hair over her shoulder and it slapped him in the face. He eye-brows, and eye-lashes didn't grow back for months. She chuckled at the memory.

With that she turned around in her seat to start up a conversation with Morgan. James just sulked in his chair waiting patiently for the feast to be over.

SUddenly after shivering violently along with Alice and Lily, realization hit Remus. A Drying Charm. 'Well duh' he thought. I can't believe between the three of us we didn't think of that! silently reprimanding himself, for his stupidity. He silently waved his wand at the three of them making them dry.

"I can't believe we didn't think of that!" Lily and Alice cried in unison.

"I know! I mean you're the smart one Lily." Remus said going along with them.

Lily just glared, she hated being called the smart kid. In Muggle elementary school, she used to get teased by the other kdis for being so smart.

For about five minutes on their way to the common room they had a heated arguement, about who's fault it was they were going to wake up in the morning with an magically uncureable head cold.

Once they got to the common room, and said the password 'Devil's Snare', Lily remember her meeting with James and Dumbledore.


	10. Survival of the Fittest

Lily looked around the common room frantically, looking for James. She spotted him lounging in a squishy armchair near the fire, talking to Sirius, Frank, Peter, and their other roomate Logan. HER favorite armchair. She stomped over to him meaningfully, grabbed him by the ear, pulled himout of the armchair, flashed a smile at his laughing friends, and stomped out of the portrait hole without a word.

"What the bloodyhell was that for?!" James yelled once they were out of the common room.

"Meeting. Dumbledore. Ring any bells?" she asked flustered, letting go of his ear.

"No. Oh, yeah yeah yeah I remember now. Do you know the password?"

"Password?" Lily asked fearfully, stopping in her tracks.

"Yeah, the password to get through the gargoyle."

"Um NO! I thought you knew!"

"Why would he tell me stuff?"

"Because, because, because your Head Boy. He wouldn't of picked you if he didn't think you could remember a simple password."

"Well from all of my visits there I know one thing." At this Lily glared as if saying not helping.

"Let me finish, let me finish, no need for glares. Your beautiful face will get stuck like that." Supplied James wagging a finger at her, while she blushed to the roots of her hair.

"Well the passwords are always candy. Wizard and Muggle alike, so we might be here a while."

Lily groaned as they approached the gargoyle.

"Licorice Wand?"

"Fizzing Wizbee?"

"Sherbert Lemons?"

"Ice Mice?"

"Blood Flovored Lollipops?"

"Ew gross, why would he eat those? Aren't they for vampires?"

"Well you never know with Dumbledore. One year I remember he had the password as Hot Tamales!"

"OK, yeah that is weird. Lets just get back to guessing the password, I don't want to sleep here."

" Ok, erm, Honeyduke's finest?"

"Rasberry Blow Pop?" A voice behind them asked.

Lily and James whipped around to see who it was. Dumbledore was smiling kindly at them, walking towards the rotating staircase that led up to his office.

They followed, admiring the office. There were trinkets wizzing and protruding smoke in every nook and crany.

"So Professor, what did you want to talk to us about?" Lily asked politely.

"Well first I would like to congradulate yourselves for the great teamwork you used today, with the attack. Secondly I would like to say that Miss Evans, you used a lot of skill to preform that spell. Flawless I would call it. Miss Evans." he said gently. "You are an amazing witch, I honestly think you could give Professor Flitwick a run for he money." he chuckled at Lily's reddening face.

"Thank you professor, that means a lot coming from you." Lily said beaming.

"Your quite welcome Miss Evans. Now down to business. As you probably know you have to hold prefect meetings weekly, you must organize major events, and in case of attack your job is very important. First you will order all of the prefects to secure evryone in their dormitories. Second you will fight with us. Yes Mr. Potter you get to fight. If you are of age you will be allowed to fight, but our first priority is to keep the students safe." Seeing the brightened mood of James, one he said the word 'fight'.

"Professor? Could we do a dance, or a ball of some sort? To get people's minds off the war, you know." James asked almost timidly, as he had never been in the Headmaster's office, unless he was in trouble for one of his pranks of course.

Lily looked astonished that he could actually suck up his pride, and suggest something, well girly. She smiled at him.

"I think that's a great idea professor." Lily said happily, drawling out the word great. James beamed heppily at this, Lily almost never praised him. 'She must dig me.' he thought, regaining his inflating ego.

"I must agree with the two of you. Perhaps a Halloween Ball, or a Christmas Ball, as those are two major holidays."

"Ok we'll get the prefects on it right away, at our next meeting. We'll need decorations, food, entertainment, and dress regulations, and and and..." Lily fretted.

"Calm down Lils!" James said grabbing her shoulders, and leading her out of the office, covering her mouth.

"Bye professor!" James yelled over his shoulder. In his office Dumbledore was chuckling lightly to himself, thinking that they would end up togheth someday. His plan was working.

James and Lily stumbled down the staircase. James let go of Lily's mouth and laughed at her enraged face. Her hair tips were ignited again.

"Look Lily, I'm sorry you were just freaking out. We have _plenty_ of time before the ball. We haven't even set a date."

Lily's expression softened, and her hair extinguised to a faint glow.

"I'm sorry. It's just as soon as I became a prefect I wanted to become Head Girl. As you know I'm kind of a perfectionest, and I want this ball to be the best Hogwarts has seen in a long time." Lily said shrugging.

"Ok, well let's go back up to the common room. We don't have lessons tomorrow, since September first fell on a Friday. We can go talk to Logan and Kylie. I heard they got together over the summer."

"What why didn't I know about this?" Lily exclaimed as they started walking towards the Gryffindor common room.

"We all just found out today at the Feast, don't worry you aren't to out of the loop,"

"Ok good, I was wondering when those two would get together. Kylie has liked Logan ever since fourth year!"

"Ha, that's nothing to Logan. He's liked her since second!"

"Why didn't I know about this!?"

"Well I found out on accident. I found a picture of Kylie under his pillow one day at the end of second year."

"Wow, I still can't believe they didn't get together earlier,"

"Yeah I know. Aaaahhhhh!" James yelled. His right leg sunk into one of the trick steps, on one of the moving staircases. This made Lily laugh and laugh and laugh so hard she used James' head for support. Bad idea. This just made him sink down farther.

"Would you mind not laughing and help me out!"

"Sorry. That was just funny. You're always the one who create the trick steps. You don't know how good it is to see you be at the butt of your own prank." Lily said between giggles.

"Yeah and that's all fine and dandy. but will you just HELP ME OUT!"

"Ok, ok. Jeez so pushy," Lily said getting into a good pulling stance.

"One, two, three!" she yelled.

"Oooff,"

"Can you like get off me?" Lily yelled. She got James out of trick step, but he fell of top of her after she did so.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"S'ok. Come on lets get back to the common room, they're probably worrying about us." she said, while he pulled her up into a standing position.

Once they got into the common room, Lily took James' vacated seat, and stuck her tongue out at him, while he sat on the floor next to her.

"So, why did you just run out of the common room, with James by the ear?" Kylie asked, leaning on Logan's chest.

"Oh, yeah about that well we had a meeting with Dumbledore about Heads stuff." James replied.

"Well why did you have him by the ear Lily?" asked Morgan tring to restrain her laughter.

"Oh, remember when Remus, Alice, and I came to the Feast late dripping wet, in mud and water? Well James here was supposed to be helping us. I was still mad so I decided to make a scene. Nothing much to it." Lily shrugged.

"Oh, well I'm going to bed girls you coming?" Lauren asked with a mischievious grin platered on her face, which started to give the guys the creeps. Especailly Sirius.

"Yeah I'm coming. Night guys." Lily and Morgan chorused.

"Yeah, night Logan. Night guys." Kylie said giving Logan a sweet kiss on the lips.

"Night." Alice said, also giving her boyfriend Frank a sweet goodnight kiss.

"Lauren's smile starting to scare me." Sirius said warily once the girls were out of ear-shot.

"I know! I was all scary, and and mischievious." Peter supplied.

"I know. It was very un-Lauren like..." Logan said slowly.

"Well knowing the girls we haev to be on our gaurd this wekend." Frank said defiantly.

"Yeah, and no pranks on them, I think they're planning something, by that look it's going to be pretty devious is my guess." Remus whispered.

Back up in the girls dorm Lauren had the rest of the seventh year Gryffindor girls lined up wondering why Lauren was grinning like crazy.

"So Lauren. What's this crazy grin you got on your face?" Kylie asked. Kylie had beautiful black hair, that cascaded down her back in ringlets. She had frosty blue highlights in her hair, that accompanied a light violet color. She had beautiful hazel eyes that could rival James' when it came to getting what she wanted. She was a nice girl like all the others, a great fighter like Alicce, she shared Lauren's view in mischeif, (That if she was pranked, the pranker would be pranked back), Lily's smarts (she was a study holic in short), and Morgans temper. She was a mixture of all of her fellow seventh Gryffindor girls. Just what they needed to make the group complete.

"Well you know how I was telling you about how the Marauders got Stinksap all over me? Also how James ditched Alice and Lily? Well I think it's time for payback. We have been the butt of to many of their pranks. Have we not?"

"Yeah!" they all chanted.

"They deserve a taste of their own medicine. Do they not?"

"Yeah!"

"We are going to get them back fot this right!?"

"Yeah!"

"What about Frank and Logan?" Lily asked.

"They laugh at us don't they?"

"Well yeah but.." Alice started, but was cut off by Kylie who was merciless, when it came to revenge that is.

"But nothing Alice. Tomorrow you're probably going to wke up with a cold, because James didn't help you get every done faster. They deserve what I've got cooked up of them." Kylie said, her eyes sparkling as they always did when she was being devious.

"Ooohhh do tell." Morgan said sitting criss-cross-applesauce on her four poster.

"Ok here's the plan." she looked at each girl individually, and started telling them the plan. When she ws finished all of their mouths were agape, eyes sparkling like never before, and wild grins starting creeping up their faces, even Alice who was normally opposed to their wild stunts.

"Oh,"

"My,"

"God,"

"That is bloody brilliant!" Lauren praised.

"I know. It's my best idea yet. When should we exicute our plan?"

"I say tonight, since tomorrow's Saturday and we can gather everyone easily." Alice said with a rare contribution to their scheme.

"Good point Alice. I am so proud of you! You actually contributed to our scheming!" Lily squealed.

"Well, this time they actually deserve it. I haven't been sick in four years! Four years!"

"Let's start now. First we need war paint. Lily?"

"Oh right!" With a swift wave of her wand a small bottle of black face paint appeared. They girls all stuck their fingers in the paint, and wiped a line of it across each of their cheeks.

"Second order of business, wands out. Lily get the two closest to the door, since you are most likely to be able to levitate two people instead of one. We all know your the Charms master of the school."

"Third camouflage. Lily if you will?"

"Of course General Kylie." and with another wave of her willow wand five sets of black sweat pants, black turtle necks, black leather boots, and black furry hats with a pompom on top.

After they got changed they snuck down the girls staircase, as silent as a mouse. When they got into the common room they headed towards the boys staircase.

Lily first, Lauren, Kylie, Alice, then Morgan in the rear. Once Lily quietly snuck up the staircase, checking the door for the seventh year boys dormitory. Of course it had to be all the way at the top of the tower. Lily quickly put a silencing charm on everybody and got to work. First she did this spell Severus taught her before they stopped being friends. It made a soft buzzing sound in people's ears around you. She modified the spell so they couldn't be heard at all. **(For reference all of the guys sleep shirtless)** She changed all of the boy's hair different colors. James got hot pink with red stars, Sirius a lurid green with I LOVE LAUREN written across his chest in hot pink, Remus neon yellow with flashing blue and pink polka-dots, Peter a bright red with pale pink hearts, Frank got orange with I LOVE ALICE written across his chest in blinking letters, and lastly Logan had a pale pink with red diamonds brialliantly flashing, on his chest he had the words I LOVE KYLIE.

Next she colored their skin a light read, like a sunburn. She charmed thier boxers and pajama pants feature rainbow colored blinking hearts, teddy bears, rainbows, unicorns, stars, moons, and clouds.

The final preparation was she colored their skin a sunburn color, so it looked like they fell asleep tanning. She motioned for the other girls to start climbing up, good thing the silencing charm worked, because they were laughing os hard at the sight of them they had tear in their eyes. Lily regained her poise pointed her wand at James who was closest to the door and said a complication levitation spell (not _Wingardium Leviosa_) that enables her to levitate more than one object, and do another spell while they are still floating as long as she remained calm. In this case James and Sirius. Lauren started to levitate Peter, silently giggling at the sight of the blinking clouds and rainbows on his boxers. Morgan was lucky and got Remus, Alice to Frank, and Kylie to Logan.

They silently walked down the staircase, and met up in the common room. Lily tapped each peron on the top of their head with her wand, sendinga cold chill trickle down their spine, disillusioning them. Now they could walk about the castle leisurely without being seen or heard.

They walked down towards the lake, with the floating boys behind them. Once they got down to the lake they set the boys down on the grass, and pointed their wands at some random rocks, Transfiguring them into water proof matresses. They easily reversed the Disillusionment Charm, so in the morning they would be clearly visible to the school. They lifted the boys onto the matresses, and pushed them off into the lake. They saw Harold the Giant Squid in the distance, and Alice being the nice person she is jinxed him so he wouldn't be able to eat the boys in their sleep.

* * *

The next morning the girls went to breakfast early with innocent faces, so they could get as many people as possible outside when the Gryffindors woke up. They headed down to the lake and started laughing. There were birds pecking at the boy's heads, as if they were berries. They went back to the castle and yelled "THE MARAUDERS WERE PRANKED OUT BY THE LAKE!". Of course nobody ever pranked the Marauders publicly in fear of being hexed into the next century, so they all ran outside following the girls lead. When they got out there there wasn't a single person that was hysterically laughing. If you weren't awake in the castle before, you were now.

Lily discreetly waved her wand and made it so their friends could hear properly again. Every seventh year Gryffindor boy immediately bolted upright frantically, looking around them. It took a few seconds to register they were floating in the middle of the lake, once they realize it they all flipped out. Lily, Lauren, Kylie, Morgan, and Alice all smiled and wiggled with fingers in a wave, in thier direction.

Sirius was especially peeved about his hair, gave the girls a murderous glare, and tried to stand up. Of course you can't do that while your floating in the middle of a lake. Following Sirius' example James, Frank, Logan, and Peter stood up. All at the same time they toppled over into the cold, murky lake water. Remus being the sensible one, sat up and paddled his way to the shore laughing at his soaked friends. They pulled him in as well as his tried his luck, by passing them in his matress boat.

Once the boys got dried off they decided to chase the girls around the school. They ran up seven floors, before they reached the common room. Alice quickly locked the portrait hole with a squelch, so the boys were locked out until they guessed the new password Alice set up 'Flutterby Bushes'. They sat outside until three in the morning with all of the other Gryffindors who weren't in their dorms, or the common room at the time it got locked. McGonnagall saved them, but said they shouldn't forget the password and gave them detention for sheer foolishness.


	11. A Guilty Flower Rising

As the first day of classes came around everybody was wishing they hadn't. Well... almost everybody. Lily and Remus were practically begging McGonagall for their schedules when she came around their way.

"Professor! Professor McGonagall. Over here!" Remus yelled with apparent delight.

McGonagall strode over here and looked at Remus' and Lily's beaming faces. "What is it?" she snapped.

"We just wanted to see our schedules. We're very excited to start classes." Lily replied eagerly, while everybody but Remus rolled their eyes at her eager demeanor.

"Very well then." she said while shuffling through a rather large stack of schedules. "Here you are there. I might as well give you all yours so I don't have to walk over there. I am getting to old for this." she complained.

"What's crackin' Minnie?" Sirius exclaimed, an exuberant grin plastered on his handsome face.

"Black, Sirius; Here you are. And don't call me Minnie!" she said moving onto everybody else, and seeing his retort on the tip of his tongue, she replied to his unanswered question. "No, Black, you can NOT call me Minerva either!" Sirius' face fell with disappointment at these words.

"Double Potions with the Slytherins first!" Lily exclaimed.

"You should have dropped it like me Lils," Remus said. "Well, we always have Potions with the Slytherins. I would rather spend the least amount of time with them as possible." He countered, seeing Lily's eyebrows rise all the way up to her hairline.

"I am NOT dropping Potions. It's an easy O for me! Besides Slughorn loves me! There are barely any Slytherins in that class. The only people that DO take it are Severus, that Avery bloke, Bella Black, Malfoy, Kylie, Alice, Frank, James, and miraculously, Sirius and I!" she argued heatedly.

"Do you still talk to Snape?" James asked, his face flickering from curiosity, hatred, a tinge of jealously, and flitting back to curiosity in a second's time.

"No, we stopped talking after that day by the lake in fifth year. Remember that?" Lily said, giving him an especially reserved glare. Her hair even started to get hot.

"Cool down, Firecracker." Hearing her dad's familiar nickname, surprisingly, she almost immediately calmed down. Her shoulders relaxed, jaw unclenched, and the fire slowly faded from her emerald eyes, her hair cooling down to room temperature.

"Sorry. He deserved it." She muttered darkly, stabbing her eggs and toast in the process.

"Jeez, Lily. What did the poor eggs ever do to you?" Sirius asked lightly, causing everyone to laugh.

"Come on you lot. Potions time." Kylie said. As they all walked out of the Great Hall, Lily felt a soft tap on her shoulder. Surprised, she spun around swiftly, promptly whipping the mystery person's face with her lustrous red locks. Seeing who it was again, she pivoted on her heel, smacking the victim on the face once more, only this time with more vigor. Her mystery man grabbed a firm grasp on her petite shoulder, so she couldn't move.

"Sod off Malfoy," she growled menacingly.

"Tsk, tsk. Now our Head Girl shouldn't talk to other students like that, especially fellow classmates." Malfoy said innocently, yet so full of malice. Putting on a fake cheery voice, a fake smile, and innocent eyes, Lily replied.

"Oh, how ever so foolish of me." Lily said in a sickly sweet voice. Discreetly pulling her wand out of her robes she continued. "What would you like, Lucius?"

"That's more like it, Mud-Blood. I see you've finally learned how to respect your superiors," he growled, a smug look on his face gradually appearing. The others, finally noticing Lily wasn't with them, assumed she had dashed off to the library last minute, since she nearly always had a book in hand. They just shrugged it off, not thinking much of it. Meanwhile, Lily and Lucius were in a heated duel, a while away from the Great Hall, as to not to catch much attention from the professors. The students… well that was another story; the students of Hogwarts were ALWAYS up to watch a good duel, most commonly a Gryffindor vs. Slytherin rivalry. Now, to see two seventh years actually duel, not just the baby throw a hex or two at each other duel, but a REAL duel. That was a REAL treat.

Throughout the first floor corridor down to the dungeons,a distinct chant could be heard. "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" was all that could be heard really, along with dramatic gasps, applauds, and the occasional scream of pain from Lucius or Lily. They even had reserves. For Slytherin, this odd bloke named Marvin Mulciber, he was a Death Eater, or suspected one anyways. For Gryffindor, Alice, who actually went back for Lily, was her reserve. In this case they weren't fighting to the death, thankfully. Only until somebody was disarmed.

Lily and Lucius reluctantly bowed to each other. The split second one's head snapped up a large slew of harmful and elaborate curses, hexes, and jinxes alike flew through the hall, illuminating even the darkest of corners.

"Conjunctivitis!" Malfoy yelled, determination, wanton, and hatred burning through every word. Lily however expertly dodged it, and replied with one of her own curses.

"Flipendo!" The fight lasted several minutes before some of the nastier hexes started to come into play. Malfoy even used _Crucio _once or twice that added a few selective choice words from enraged Gryffindors, and some cheers from the more malicious Slytherins. Thankfully Lily was an expert at dodging hexes. She had experience from standing in the crowd, front row, trying to stop the duels. As always spells go awry, so after the first time she got hit with 'Furnuculus' she vowed to learn how do dodge spells that summer, and succeeded with flying colors.

The last spell he used she had never heard of before, or even read about. Now we all know Lily is a bookworm, that much is obvious. She knows the library better than Madam Pince, Filch (who has a crush on Madame Pince), even Remus! Ask her for a book, she'd find it in ten seconds flat.

Malfoy did this odd slashing motion with his wand, which emitted a purple flame to come out of the tip. Lily was so surprised, she forgot to dodge it. Then the most unexpected thing happened. The spell didn't hit her. She was braced for the impact, but to no avail, it never came. She opened her squinted eyes slowly, and let out a gasp of surprise, horror, and awe.

In front of her none other than James Potter lay at her feet, motionless. Kneeling down slowly, still not blinking, nor making a sound, she silently conjured up a streter and levitated James onto it. Thankfully Malfoy was surrounded by a bunch of praising Slytherins and intense ire and wrath, so he didn't notice her. Her other friends unfortunatley did. They followed her and kept badgering her with a bombardment of questions. Her only response was silence in itself.

When they arrived at the Hospital Wing Madam Pomfrey let out a small scream of her own once Remus had told her James had been hit with a spell of purple flames. Apparently it was VERY advanced dark magic. The curse was almost never used unless by a powerful dark wizard, such as Voldemort or a key Death Eater. Since it was a noverbol spell none of them caught the incantation. Madam Pomfrey of course, knew every curse, hex, jinx, spell, and/or charm in the book. Sure she couldn't preform them all but she knew then back and front. This particular curse was called the 'Eradico Curse'. What it did was collapse one of your lungs, puts you into a coma, temporary quadriplegia paralysis (for those of you who don't grow up with parents in the medical field quadriplegia paralysis is when you are completely paralyzed. So he wouldn't have been able to move even if he wasn't in a coma.), a big gash appeared in his back, steadily flowing with fresh blood, AND there was possible brain damage.

When she explained this, the girls were silently crying for their friend, wondering if he would ever be the same again. The Marauders even had a set of tears glistening in their eyes fearful that James would never recover from this.

Ever since Madam Pomfrey explained the situation to all of them, Lily had not left James' bedside. It had been a month since the accident and there was no improvement of his condition. The only time she got up was for classes, bathroom breaks, and sleep. Then only other time she would leave his immobile presence was if Madam Pomfrey was re-dressing his bandages, she even had done this herself once or twice while Madam Pomfrey was busy with other patients. When Sirius' or the Marauders came to visit she occasionally gave them privacy, but only if they asked for it.

Her grades were steadily dropping, and she always felt inexplicably guilty. Her normally glittering emerald eyes, were now faded and dull with only the slightest sign of life. She didn't know why but whenever she saw something she thought of James. Even a quill! James loved to draw, and always sent her these sweet pictures and notes that he drew himself. Lily would have never admitted it at the time, but she thought they were sweet even when she hated him. She kept every single one in a magically expanded box underneath her bed.

"Lily! Snap out of it!" Lauren said one day alone in their dorm. (Alice, Morgan, and Kylie had already gone down to breakfast.)

"What?"

"Stop moping around like a lazy ass, and get back to your normal self." she pleaded.

"I don't know what your talking about." she said defiantly.

"Bull crap. Ever since what happened to James you have been moping around here, and depressing everybody!"

"Well sorry for being concerned, it's better then not caring at all like you lot." she argued heatedly, this of course was the wrong thing to say.

"Not caring? NOT CARING?" Lauren shrieked shrilly.

"Do you call sitting up with somebody through the night, crying over them, and constantly worrying about them not caring?" she said incredulously.

"We ALL care about James, just because you feel guilty about him taking the curse for you doesn't give you the right to say we don't care. I know your hurting Lily, but you've been a b(insert remaining four letters here :) to everybody since then, and it's really starting to get on our nerves. We can only tolerate you for so long Lily Marie!" Lauren cried exasperatedly. "James wouldn't want you like this. He loves the lively, proud, brave, smart, funny, stubborn Lily. Not this." she said lowering her voice into a soft whisper." I AM NOT STUBBORN!" Lily shouted, at this Lauren laughed full of new found mirth.

"Stop laughing!" she ordered stomping her foot down on the floor, even her hair caught afire. After Lauren's chuckles turned into short coughs she waved her wand and a bucket of water appeared over Lily's head. A small smile started to creep up Lauren's plump lips.

"W-w-w-what are you doing with that?" Lily stuttered hair still alight.

"Nothing," Lauren said innocently as she made a sharp jab in Lily's direction with her wand. Four gallons of ice cold water plummeted towards Lily's head. The splash the ice water made when it hit Lily, could be heard from the Common Room. Lily's shreik of suprise could even be heard from the lake, the fourth floor, the Charms classroom, and the Room of Requirement. Though nobody came.

Unexpectedly Lauren started singing. It was only a verse or two, but it snapped Lily back into reality better than the ice water could have ever done.

_"_That's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa  
That's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa  
I drowned out all my sense with the sound of its beating  
And that's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa

I wonder, how am I supposed to feel when you're not here  
Cause I burned every bridge I ever built when you were here  
I still try holding onto silly things, I never learn  
Oh why, all the possibilities I'm sure you've heard

That's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa  
That's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa  
I drowned out all my sense with the sound of its beating (beating)  
And that's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa_"_

_That's What You Get By: Paramore_

"I am SSSSOOOO sorry!" Lily said unexpectedly flinging herself into Lauren, getting her sopping wet as well.

"It's ok Lily. You know if you want you can get off me now." Lauren said jokingly.

"Oh sorry," she mumbled while wiping the salty tears off her flawless face.

"It's ok. What do you say now?"

"What?" Lily asked confused.

"What do you say?"

"Huh? Oh yeah! Do I have to?" Lily whined.

"Yes you do. I think I deserve it at the least. After what I've had to put up with for the past month!"

"Fine. You were right, and I was wrong."

"And," Lauren urged.

"Ok, maybe I'm a little stubborn," Lauren gave her a disbelieving look that changed her mind. "Fine, fine I am... I'm sorry, I know I haven't been myself lately. James wouldn't want me to be like this. If he were awake right now he'd hex me for worrying so much." she chuckled lightly.

"Come on let's go down to breakfast, Alice and Kylie will freak were this late, classes start in twenty minutes."

"TWENTY MINUTES!! COME ON THEN!" Lily said grabbing her friends arm and digging her weight into the ground trying to pull her along.

"I'm coming. I'm coming."

And with that they skipped their ways all they way down seven floors and into the Great Hall, earning funny looks from their peers and teachers.

"Lauren," said an exasperated Kylie.

"What did we say about slipping Lily potions without her consent?" at this Lily laughed.

"Don't worry guys. I'm not drugged or anything. Lauren and I just had a sisterly argument about some stuff. I know I maybe haven't really been myself lately. Also I guess I've been a teensy bit mopey and depressed,"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up little miss sunshine!" Morgan exclaimed, "Maybe?"

"Really?"

"Teensy?"

"A bit?"

"Ok, ok I've been a wreck the past month. Happy now?" Lily asked in a flustered manner.

"Yes!" All of the seventh year Gryffindor girls, minus Lily, said in unison. Normally Lily would have never admitted something like that, for some reason though, this was a special case.

Throughout the rest of the day, Lily kept getting funny looks at her happy demeanor. Some of James' fangirls even approached her after Transfiguration.

"Why aren't you all sad today Evans?" Claudia asked scathingly.

"Oh, I've just realized that I couldn't have done anything for James, even though he took that curse for me. Now I know, he did it for a reason."

"Oh yeah? What's that?" Another one of his pathetic, overly obsessed, no hope for a cure, fangirls asked in a menacing voice.

Putting on a sweet smile, innocent aura around her, along with an innocent face she responded,

"He loves me," and walked away. Then for the second time in little over a month, a hand grasped her shoulder. It was Renee.

"What did you just say?" she asked acidly. Each step she took, a firm poke pointed at Lily was made.

"He loves me." She drawled, as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

"He loves ME! He even told me so. I'm his girlfriend! So whatever ideas you have about MY Jamie, you might just want to get those out of your head right now."

"And how many times has he proposed to me? Oh yeah! 987! Wow and how many times has he proposed to you?"

"That's what I thought," and with that she turned on her heel and skipped over to Kylie and Alice who had stayed to watch the affair.

Renee started to splutter at this statement, racking her mediocre brain for a retort.

"Well at least I'm not stupid!" She yelled lamely, at Lily's retreating figure.

"How am I the stupid one here?" Lily yelled back her hair igniting, for the second time that day. Though this was nothing to when she used to hate James. It used to go up in flame at LEAST 13 times a day. He normally asked her out once during breakfast, lunch, and twice in dinner. Then in passing periods, and free periods he asked for her hand in marriage at least nine times a day. He said it was one for every hour he spent looking at her.

"Well," she started in a know it all voice.

"I, would have said yes, if he asked for my hand in marriage. I mean why wouldn't you marry him? He's hot." Renee said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"That's not all there is to marriage, or dating for that matter." Lily retorted with a roll of her eyes to follow.

Renee let out a deranged laugh, that would have turned even the most desperate boys away from her stunning looks.

"Oh please! That's the only reason me and James are dating. We're both beautiful people! We look good together." she said matter of factly.

"That may be so, but just wait until he wakes up, it'll be a different story." For the second time she turned and walked away, ignoring Renee's fruitless attempts to stop her.

The rest of the day went without much incident. The teachers were congratulating her on her excellent spell work once more, her flawless papers, and happy demeanor.

Sure she got hexed in the corridor almost every passing period. Then again she was always up for a good duel. Some of the teachers who spotted the heated duels between Lily and some of the fan girls just walk away as if they were flies on the wall. Professor McGonagall even gave Lily a small smile when she Transfigured Renee into a tramp, after her seventh attempt at a duel with her. It helped that it would have been her animagus form too. Knowing this Lily announced it to everyone in the corridor that stayed to watch her chase her tail endlessly.

After dinner when they got the Common Room they started recapping the duels in which Lily had gotten into that day.

"Well there was that one with that Cordelia chick. You know from Hufflepuff? She's a real idiot got four OWLs. FOUR! How can you only get four OWLs when we took nine?" Kylie started.

"Yeah she is a bimbo," chipped in Alice.

"There was also that Claudia girl who hangs out with Renee. Lily won that one hands down too."

"Your forgetting the seven attempted duels with Renee. None of these are actually duels, ya know? All they are is somebody jinxed Lily from behind. Lily turns around and points her wand at them lazily. They get hit start crying and run up to the Hospital Wing."

"What is this I hear? Head Girl, goody goody, little miss perfect Lily Evans make somebody cry?" Sirius gasped in mock amazement, sliding down behind Lauren and kissing her lightly on the head. Remus awkwardly sat down next to Morgan, and she blushed. Logan natrually sat down next to Kylie and pulled her onto his lap. Frank and Alice were cuddling next to them. The only one's that had nobody to sit with were Lily and Peter.

"Wow, don't we feel loved Lily?" Peter smirked, shaking his head at their friends tactlessness.

"Oh Lily I'm so sorry!" Sirius exclaimed.

"I'll save you!"

"No Sirius, really it's fine. I'll just--" but was cut off by none other then imagines superhero music in backround Sirius of course.

"AAAAHHHHH" Lily screamed.

"SIRIUS BLACK! PUT ME DOWN! NOW!!" Lily yelled as Sirius lifted her up and threw he over his back, and started running around the Common Room.

"NEVER!!" Sirius cackled madly.

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK! PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!"

"WHAT'S THE MAGIC WORD?" Sirius teased in a sing-song voice, laughing along with the rest of the Common Room. It was at it' peak too. Everybody was just getting in from dinner, to be met with quite a dramatic scene.

"NOW!!"

"I don't think that's the magic word..." Sirius said in mock confusion.

"No it's not... AAAHHH! What's the problem with you woman!" Sirius exclaimed after recieving a nice hard bite in the butt from Lily.

"LILY! THAT'S MY BOYFRIEND'S BUTT YOU JUST BIT!" yelled Lauren, just loud enough for the whole common room to hear, as well as the early birds up in the dormitories.

"Oh get over it. You so, know he deserved it Lorie." Lily teased.

"Yeah, but it totally ruined by plan to jinx him! He would have put you down then! Ever since you've been happy again, you keep out doing me." Lauren said teasingly.

"WHAT! You dumped ice water on me at seven in the morning! Ice water at seven in the morning! WATER! MORNING! SEVEN! Not the greatest combintaion if you ask me." Lily argued. "And I'm supposed to be the smart one here." added Lily as an afterthought.

"Yeah I did didn't I?" Lauren asked cockily, in a teasing voice, filpping her side bangs to the right in the proccess of her oh-I-am-good-aren't-I act. The rest of the night went by speedily. They all spent it joking, screwing around, and just having a good time. It wasn't until Kylie fell asleep on Logan's shoulder they called it a night.


	12. Bittersweet Surprises Part One

Throughout the chilling month of October, there was no good news in James' condition; if anything it just plummeted. Lily thought it was all her fault for feeling happy while James was feeling horrible. Of course, this caused uproar from her friends. Finally, she saw sense and stopped blaming herself for everything. Sure, she still visited James, talked to his comatose body, and even tried to teach his unconscious body new concepts for different classes. Apparently in one of the million library books she had read, reading to the unconscious helps them retain the information more efficiently then when they are conscious. They, of course, had to be a witch or wizard for this to work, but still, the information was steadily being implanted into his vegetative state of a coma.

The prefects and Lily had to hold meetings without their Head Boy. For the time being, Remus had been patrolling with Lily as a 'fill-in' Head Boy. Even though it wasn't official he played the part very well. He said it was because he didn't want Lily having to do all the work herself. Lily for some reason thought differently. It was a far-fetched thought, but an idea that reproved a previous idea.

Lily thought that Remus was doing this to show responsibility. Now they all knew he was responsible, but he wanted to prove to Morgan how he could balance Head business, NEWT level classes, Quidditch, and the fact he turns into a vicious, furry, maniac at 'his time of the month' (AKA the full moon). This again was a far-fetched idea, but in the mind of Lily Evans, it was nothing out of the ordinary.

For Halloween, they of course had their annual feast. To spice it up just a bit the prefects (minus Lucius who always disagreed with the group, whether he liked the idea or not.) started the tradition of ghost performances since they fell into the Halloween theme. The prefects had a raffle. The prize was sort of lame since they couldn't really find ideas to interest each student, house, and year. Each year had a bucket, not unlike the Goblet of Fire. It had an age line that wasn't exactly an age line. The line detected your year instead of your age. You put your name in the goblet, and you could only submit your name once. If you tried again, your pants would be stripped off and light themselves on fire, courtesy of Peeves. At the Feast, Dumbledore would pull a name from each goblet. The winner of each year would receive a homework pass for each class they attended. It worked on any out of class assignment. The professors, of course, hated the idea when Lily, of all people, proposed it. They were mumbling stuff like 'In my day...' and 'Students these days...' even 'Whoever had that idea should be hung by their toe nails from the North Tower!' that of course was Filch's idea, and nobody likes him so...

When the school assembled in the Great Hall, they were impressed. Live bats were flying around, the usual floating jack-o-lanterns, the occasional fire fly for a spooky aura, and even candy-corns were raining from the enchanted ceiling. Unfortunately for Sirius. he didn't realize it was just an illusion.

When he entered the Great Hall he went berserk.

"OH. MY. GOD. CANDY CORN!!" screamed Sirius like a little girl buying her first baby doll. He was so excited to see his favorite Halloween food falling from the sky; he literally sprinted across the hall. Easily, for him, jumping over all of the First Years in the way. They ducked, but still the effect was the same. Even his dog-like tongue was lolling out of his mouth, slobber almost coming out of his open mouth. Once he reached to the Gryffindor Table, Sirius jumped up onto the sparkling clean table, and started hopping up and down trying to reach the candy corns screaming 'THEY'RE MINE!' at the top of his lungs.

"CANDY CORN, CANDY CORN, I LOVE CANDY CORN! CANDY CORN!" Sirius screamed while doing a little jig on top of the table; Lauren fruitlessly tried to restrain him.

"Lauren! Just let go!" Remus screamed.

"He's acting like a four year old!" Lauren screamed back, mortification written all over her face.

"I KNOW! I _TOLD_ YOU HE WOULD DO THIS!" Remus yelled across the hall.

"I thought you were lying!" whined Lauren.

"Well now you know I wasn't."

"Let it go Lorie, let it go." Morgan sighed shaking her head.

Lily, being the one who enchanted the ceiling, had a few tricks up her sleeve. Once everyone was settled, she made a motion with her arms instructing them to duck underneath the tables; even the teachers obliged, knowing the plan. Remus was the one who randomly told everyone that Sirius loved candy corns, then he and Lily made up a prank on their own to humiliate Sirius. They told the prefects to tell their houses the plan. Lucius and the other Slytherins surprisingly held to their end of the deal. If they listened to Lily and not argue, then they get to help humiliate a Gryffindor. In their eyes it was a fair deal. In Lily and Remus', it was just a harmless prank designed for Sirius. Once everyone was under, besides Sirius who was STILL trying to get the nonexistent, oblivious to the fact everybody was under their respectable tables, Lily discreetly waved her wand in a swift, fluid movement.

All of a sudden a thunderous crash echoed throughout the hall, and each person's ears. A muffled strangled cry from Sirius was heard, but only faintly. They were barricaded in by the rush of candy corns. The prefects kept their cool, as well as some of the older students. The third years and below were shrieking so loud a silencing charm was put on them. Each prefect took an edge of the table, as well as two to the middle of each. They quickly muttered 'meliato', the melting charm. This created a nice big hole in the avalanche's walls. Sticky, but workable. Each prefect was ushering students out of the hole, cleaning them off in the process.

Throughout the whole entire Feast Sirius was nowhere to be heard. Everybody just assumed that he was just eating candy corn to his heart's content just like themselves.

"I wonder where Sirius is..." wondered Lauren aloud, now starting to worry about her boyfriend.

"I don't know... He's probably still under the candy corn pile that we left over by the back of the hall." Peter said with a wave of his hand, popping his own candy corn in his pudgy mouth.

"Yeah, knowing our Sirius, he's still probably trying to eat his way out instead of using his wand." Morgan snorted; it was kind of one of her habits, for lack of a better word.

"Haha yeah, I wonder how long it'll take to get out of the avalanche." Lily said lightly.

Suddenly a sharp jab came to her sides, right above her hips. She let out a small shriek of surprise. When she whipped around to find the person who jabbed her sides, nobody was there. She looked all around her, but nobody was in sight. The only person who could have possibly done that to her was Sirius, but he was still under all of the candy corn that he just had to catch. Seeing everybody else was sitting, laughing, and flirting with their friends, she couldn't find the perpetrator. This made her slightly uneasy, for some reason.

Now she was hearing sharp intakes of breath right behind her. If she wasn't scared before, she was now. Standing up suddenly to go leave, Dumbledore announced her name.

"If we could now please have Miss Lily Evans up here to draw the names for the raffle, I would be delighted. Miss Evans?"

"Yes Professor, the drawing." Lily said uneasily, walking up to the High Table. "OK, quiet down now. We're going to start with First Years. Drum Roll please!" There was soon the sound of thousands of hands tapping the table anxiously "Liam McKinnon!!" now clapping for Morgan's little brother. _(By the way, Morgan is the Marlene in the books. I just didn't want to use Marlene since most people do. I just like the name Morgan better. Take no offense any Marlene's reading this!)_

"Here you go Liam!" Lily said jovially, now forgetting all of her worries of the mysterious person standing behind her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Dumbledore wink in her direction. WINK! When he saw her looking curiously at him he averted his eyes. Odd, thought Lily. Very odd. Almost un-Dumbledore-ish like...

"Second year! Drum roll please!" Again thousands of hands patting on the table, echoed throughout the hall. "Narcissa Black!" yelled Lily, pretending to be exited. "Here you are Narcissa," said Lily politely handing her the homework passes.

"Third year! And the winner is... Sirius Black! SIRIUS!!" Lily shrieked. "Black, where are you!?"

"I'm here!" yelled Sirius; purposefully strutting across the hall like it was a runway. He was even completely candy corn free, amazingly. Most girls were giggling feverishly.

"Black! How did you get your name in the THIRD YEAR bucket?!"

"Oh Lily, if I told you I'd have to kill you. Personally I think you like your life seeing as your yelling at me, and your hair is starting to steam up again."

"Just take the darn piece of parchment, and get out of my sight Black, I'll deal with you later. I know where you sleep. And yes that is a threat." The whole hall just started watching the small quarrel with great interest, but was left disappointed when Sirius just skipped back to the Gryffindor table. When he got there he gave Lauren a big wet kiss on the cheek, that surely enough smelt like candy corns.

The drawing went on and on for about another five minutes. For fourth year a sweet Hufflepuff girl named Stacie Abbot won. In fifth year, a Ravenclaw named Steven White won. For the sixth years another particularly nasty Slytherin named Jacob Black won.

"Last drawing of the night now, the one most of you have been waiting for! Seventh year! Extra super colossal drum roll please!! Severus Snape!" Lily yelled, again trying to keep the icy level of her voice down to a minimum.

"Thanks MudBlood. Do you think I'd be able to wash this? Maybe it would be easier if I just gave you a small little bath here. Aguamenti!!" A large cold splash of water collided with Lily's face. At this everybody gasped. Not because Lily was soaking wet, hair steaming, eyes full of malice, and shivering like mad. They gasped because there was water floating in mid-air behind where she stood.

Wondering why everybody was looking behind her she turned around. Walking slowly over to the floating water, hand outstretched in case of danger, she pulled at the water. Slowly a silk, silvery, cloak fell into a graceful pool at her feet. When she saw what lie beneath she let yet another small gasp escape her luscious red lips.

There before her stood a completely healthy, lively, energetic, handsome, young man with unruly raven hair, gorgeous hazel eyes, and the sweetest smile.

"J-J-J-J-James?" Lily stuttered.

"Hey Lily," James said, sticking his hands in his robe pockets.

"The Feast is now dismissed! Goodnight, sleep tight! Don't let the knargles bite!" Dumbledore said in a sing song voice.

Once everybody had emptied out of the hall, teachers included, there were only thirteen seventeen year olds left in the vast, empty hall.

A/N: I want at least five reviews before I post again! Part 2 coming soon! I hope... Oh and for those of you who like contests, guess how many pages this WHOLE STORY takes up on word. Who ever gets the right answer gets a chapter in advance. It is going to be acout 3,000 words too. D

-Brittney

Sirius' Sweetheart


	13. Bittersweet Surprises Part Two

**(A/N: Ok I gave up on the whole stupid contest thing because A) it was stupid, B) Nobody would have guessed it, C) I really wanted to post, and D) My servant -as she so nicely calls herself- RidingStar95 reviewed so many times i na row I was starting to feel guilty that I hadn't posted yet, and E) I just wanted to end the contest because it was once again stupid.)**

_There before her stood a completely healthy, lively, energetic, handsome, young man with unruly raven hair, gorgeous hazel eyes, and the sweetest smile._

_"J-J-J-J-James?" Lily stuttered._

_"Hey Lily," James said, sticking his hands in his robe pockets._

_"The Feast is now dismissed! Goodnight, sleep tight! Don't let the knargles bite!" Dumbledore said in a sing song voice._

_Once everybody had emptied out of the hall, teachers included, there were only thirteen seventeen year olds left in the vast, empty hall._

First to break to growing tension in the awkward silence was James.

* * *

"So Sirius mate, I saw you get taken under by the candy corns," he said lightly trying to break the tension, yet only succeeding in breaking the silence.

"Why didn't you bloody tell us you were getting out of the Hospital Wing! We could have planned a prank! Gotten caught up on all of the pranks you've missed out on! I mean you could have at least let us know you were conscious! But nnoooo, you had to have it your way and scare half the bloody hall to death. Don't give me any of that I just woke up rubbish. It won't work on me 'ya know," Sirius ranted on defiantly.

"Jeez chill mate. I really did just wake up. Actually I'm not supposed to be out of bed. Technically... I had to do this weird spell that can make me float so I can 'walk'. Madam Pomfrey said I had like paralysis or something, what ever that means,"

"Chill? Chill? I don't think he is the one that needs to chill! You shouldn't even be out of bed! Come on let's go mister," Lily ordered bossily.

"I'm NOT going back there yet! I just woke up!" complained James who was being more livid my the second. I mean didn't they understand her.

"Yeah and you should be resting and getting better," chipped in Peter who was miraculously not on James' side.

"Thank you Peter. See everybody sees it my way so let's go! To the Hospital Wing," seeing James' stiff figure, she silently pleaded to Remus for help.

"James you really need to get back in bed. All that is coming out of your mouth is rubbish. You had a collapsed lung, paralysis, which by the way pretty much means you can't move the complete lower half of your body in this case, you were in a coma for about two months, and you still look like you've had insomnia,"

"Bugger off, I think I need to hear what my girlfriend thinks," gesturing for Renee and Claudia to state their less than wanted opinions on the matter.

"Well _I_ think that James has been cooped up in that boring old Hospital Wing to long. He should totally take me out tonight. I mean what better way to get on a road to recovery is there than having a fun night with their girlfriend?" she asked innocently.

_"I_ also think he should just let loose tonight. I mean they haven't seen for two whole months,_" _Claudia added.

"That's because he just bloody woke up! He should be resting so sod off, he needs his sleep," Lily retorted. "Come _on_James let's go. Come, chop chop. Madam Pomfrey is going to be enraged enough at you."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"James Potter! Get your bloody arse over here, or else I'll give you a detention with McGonnagall."

"Oh no! McGonnagall I'm so scared. Mr. Potter stop goofing off and Transfigure your mouse," mocked James.

"20 points from Gryffindor. Mocking an authority figure?" she cried incredulously. 'I would have thought better of you Mr. Potter you're Head Boy. Aren't you supposed to be in the Hospital Wing? Madam Pomfrey most certainly hasn't discharged you. I would know. If it had it would be the talk of the Staffroom. I was just in there too, they were talking, fighting I should say, Quidditch!"

"I tried to tell him Professor," Lily said shaking her head disapprovingly.

"Quiet Miss Evans,"

"Yes Ma'am,"

"Kiss up," James muttered causing Lily to cast a hurt look in his direction.

"Detention my office, next Saturday,"

"You see Professor I'm all booked up next Saturday. You see... I was going to go to Quidditch practice. You know I haven't been on a broom in a while and the match is coming up soon. Next week in fact," he said apologetically.

"'Was' is the key word in that sentence," she said coldly.

"Oh yeah mate, sorry to say this to 'ya, but I _had_ to do this. You've been replaced," Sirius said not meeting his friend's eyes.

"REPLACED!" yelped James, a look of mortification crossing his face.

"Well you couldn't just expect me to leave the position open while you were in a COMA! I'd be bloody insane to do that. Do you know what would happen to us at the match if we showed up without a Seeker? Exactly. Bad things. Besides, you can't even _walk _properly. Just go back up to the bloody Hospital Wing."

"Well if you don't want me here I guess I should. Come on Renee, at least I'm wanted by _somebody,_" kissing her cheek in an appreciative manner. Grabbing her arm roughly he started to strut off.

"Hold UP! It's not that we don't want you." yelled Lily. "If you very much have to know, I spent almost everyday for a whole month! at your bedside. never leaving, ever! Not even to eat. Sirius and Remus here had to literally _drag_ me out of there. If you call that being not wanted, then I'm a hag,"

"Well then Lily, you're a very pretty hag at that," This earned him a soft slap from Renee which he shrugged off, and a major death glare from Lily, Kylie, Alice, Morgan, Lauren, Remus, Sirius, Frank, and Logan. This didn't even falter his expressionless--expression?? **(A/N: If that makes sense... )**

At this comment Lily was nearly in tears. James would have won the battle if it had not been for Alice, Remus, and Sirius.

"WHO THE BLOODY HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!" Alice vociferated enough for the whole school to hear.

"Well last time I checked I was James Potter. How about you?" he said with a passive face.

"JAMES! DON'T TALK TO HER LIKE THAT?" Sirius bellowed steadily losing his cool which he said 'could never leave somebody as cool as him'. "WHAT THE HELL HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU!?"

James took a deep breath and sighed over dramatically.

"'Ya know, I think that it's best you just let me have a nice night with my girlfriend," Claudia coughed beside him. "and her friend." He added as an after thought.

"BEST FOR YOU??" Remus asked incredulously, "BEST FOR YOU?? How is going out with you girlfriend, most likely partying mind you, rather then lying in bed at the Hospital Wing with a nurse constantly watching over you, trying to fix your paralysis, better for you? Just curious here,"

"Well I don't want to bore you with the details, so I think I'll just leave," James said pointing to the door.

Renne and Claudia wore haughty smirks on their face as they walked out, leading, James in tow.

The rest on the other hand had looks of outrage. Defeat of course. Yet utter outrage.

Accepting the defeat they went up to the Hospital Wing to go talk to Madam Pomfrey. Well at least Sirius and Lily did. The others were all full of pumpkin pie, candy corns, more pie, and candy to stay up past another blink.

_knock knock_

"Come in, come in," said a flustered Madam Pomfrey. "I _lost _my patient!! _Lost him! _I've never in my history of healing _lost_ a patient before,"

"Who are you looking for?" Lily asked politely.

"James Potter. He's just dissapeared on me,"

"Oh, you're looking for James are you? Well that's easy he crashed the feast, got caught under the invisibility cloak, got in a row with all of his best friends, and right about now he should be snogging his girlfriend in a broom closet on the... Hold on wait for it... sixth floor," Sirius said with an air of 'I-know-my-best-friend-better-than-you-' superiority.

"Snogging his girlfriend?? It's ten o' click at night, and it's past curfew!"

"Well technically, he's Head Boy. Which technically means he can be out after hours. Also that means by his honor, he has to give her a detention," Lily said deep in thought.

"Well if you know him so well why don't YOU go find him?" Madam Pomfrey asked irritably.

"Well we only came up here to say when he does get here, which he will, to strap him down extra good onto his bed, take away his wand, put a silencing charm on him, give him sleeping draught, and maybe even some good old fashioned Muggle duct tape would work, just in case the silencing charm wears off," Lily said boldly.

"I've never tried that before," Poppy mumbled.

"Well you should try it, it would do wonders for your stress levels," chipped in Sirius.

"Well you never know until you try it," Poppy said shrugging her shoulders in a defeated manner.

"We can't look for him because we are incredibly exhausted, so if you wouldn't mind," she said while trekking off, pushing the double doors open, and casting a meaningful glance in Sirius' direction indicating him to follow.

"Oh, OH! You want me to follow you! Gotcha, Well see 'ya Poppy!" and left with a wink, leaving a very confused 25 year old Hospital maitron in her quarters.

"Well that could have gone better," voiced Sirius.

"'Ya think?"

For the rest of the way to the Gryffindor Common room they walked in a comfortable silence. The only sounds that could be heard were the soft snoring of the portraits they passed. That was until Lily just had to break the all to familiar silence.

"What do you think was wrong with James? I mean he didn't really seem himself tonight," Sirius asked concern flooding through his voice.

"Well the only _medical _explanation would be he had some sort of brain damage from the curse that we didn't know about. Personally though, knowing James, it was just a random mood swing. I mean did you realize when we first saw him he was all timid, shy, and well-- un-Jamesish," she finished lamely.

"Well I hope it stops soon," Sirius complained. "He's driving me bloody insane and he hasn't even been awake 24 hours yet!"

"I know, I know...," Lily said comfortingly.

The next day they were happy to see James in the Hospital Wing strapped into the bed, mouth covered with a sticky, silvery strip that looked mysteriously like duct tape.

There was also a price to pay for this gorious sight. Renee, Claudia and their croonies were standing beside his bed lovingly stroking his hair, whispering sweet nothings in his ear. Well that was mostly Renee, but you get the point. Again they were pleased to see a sign of great discomfort from James.

Of course the thought of having six 'beautiful as they like to call themselves' young woman surrounding your bed, and being uncomfortable just went _zip _right over their pretty little heads.

_cough cough_

Everybody looked over to the source of this unexpected sound and found a very distressed Madam Pomfrey in their place.

"I would appreciate it if you could please leave Mr. Potter alone. He has just woken up from a two month coma for god's sake!" cried Madam Pomfrey.

"Well I guess I'll see you later Jamsie poo!" yelled Renee as she walked to the double doors.

"Yeah, see you James," the five other girls sighed dreamily as they got up to follow Renee.

"Well they took a long time," Morgan said irritably taking Renee's vacated seat.

"Hey mate, while you have the straps on the bed I want to ask you a question," Peter said a smile crossing his lips.

"Why the bloody hell are you acting like a bloody-egotistical-self centered-prat as Lily so nicely puts it," Morgan interrupted cutting off Peter while Lauren took the liberty to pull of the duct tape.

"AAAHHH," James yelped.

"Well you should of thought of that before you acted like a git," Remus said reasonably.

"Well I wouldn't have acted like a git if I hadn't been bloody seduced!"

"Yeah, right," Lily let out a dry laugh at this comment.

"Seduced? You know that's just a temptation that weak people give into right?" Kylie asked sweetly.

"I'm not weak!" James growled. "I could get out of this bed if I wanted to 'ya know!"

"Yeah sure, of course you can James. I think I'll just let you think that," Logan said walking away from the bed.

"Sirius don't we have Quidditch practice in like," Remus started, "ten minutes?"

"Crap!"

"Yeah it's in, oh no, seven minutes!"

"Well go on then, don't be late for your oh so important Quidditch practice, that I can't go to," James sourly said.

"Chill out mate,"

"Yeah seriously once you get discharged I'll kick of the second year who is filling your place just for you. How 'bout that?"

"Well I guess that sounds reasonable," he grumbled.

"Cool, catcha later!" they both yelled over their shoulders while dashing to get their brooms from the dorms.

"Yeah, and Alice, Morgan and I have a Gobstones meeting? It's in five minutes also isn't is?" Peter inquired.

"Oh, yeah I totally forgot about that! Thanks for reminding me! Let's go, we don't want to be late, remember last time..." they both shuddered at the memory.

"Oh and I have to go to that place next to the place where... yeah," Lauren started.

"You should come with me, Logan!"

"Huh, what? Why?"

"Because I said so. Also my boyfriend lives with you, is a Marauder, and hasn't had his fair share of pranks this month," she said ticking each reason off on her freshly manicured fingers.

"What ever you say. What ever you say,"

"Erm, well I think I should go now. It's a nice day out and Frank and I have to get some studying done." Alice said hastily.

"Yeah, what Alice said," and scampered off to follow his girlfriend's now retreating back.

"I think they did that to us on purpose," stated Lily.

"Did what?" James asked obliviously.

"Oh, never you mind,"

"I guess I'll get up and go then. You're obviously tired. I'm tired. Our friends are idiots. I think those are all sure signs for me to leave,"

"Wait Lily!" he croaked before she left.

"Come closer,"

Confused Lily bent over towards James' face. He could not be doing what I think he's doing. He just couldn't be. He had a girlfriend! Didn't he? Yes, yes he did. She was just in here giggling like a mindless idiot a few moments ago. Wasn't she? Yes, I am not going crazy, he really is crazy! Fighting an internal battle between herself she completely zoned out to James talking.

"LILY!" James shouted awakening her from her complex thoughts.

"What?! What did I miss?"

"Oh, nothing. Just bring your face a little closer to mine. Yeah that's it face me. Close your eyes." Miraculously Lily obliged, waiting to get a surprise of well, quite some time...

**A/N: hehehe -cackles madly- -rubs hands together while laughing- HA! cliffy! P The great thing is I know what happens! You'll probably expect it though. It was just perfect timing to put this here. So.. Sorry if you get disappointed in the next chapter of the obvious-ness of what shall happen. Well yeah. REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! I need at least 10 reviews before I post again in sing-song voice**

**Your oh so loving author,**

**-Brittney/Sirius' Sweetheart**


	14. A Chain of Events

_Confused Lily bent over towards James' face. He could not be doing what I think he's doing. He just couldn't be. He had a girlfriend! Didn't he? Yes, yes he did. She was just in here giggling like a mindless idiot a few moments ago. Wasn't she? Yes, I am not going crazy, he really is crazy! Fighting an internal battle between herself she completely zoned out to James talking._

_"LILY!" James shouted awakening her from her complex thoughts._

_"What?! What did I miss?"_

_"Oh, nothing. Just bring your face a little closer to mine. Yeah that's it face me. Close your eyes." Miraculously Lily obliged, waiting to get a surprise of well, quite some time..._

* * *

She felt a pair of soft, warm, caressing, lips on her own glossy pink ones. She felt fireworks going off inside of her. Like an electric shock to all of her senses.

When she opened her eyes into reality, the first thing she saw was James' stunning hazel eyes looking into hers lovingly.

' Man, I could just stare in those eyes all day,' Devil Lily sighed inside of her.

'No! Bad Lily. Bad. He has a girlfriend. We already established that today. Remember a few seconds ago,' Angel Lily tried.

'Yeah but those lips... They were so soft, and inviting'

'Yeah and he has a GIRLFRIEND that probably think the same thing, so stop thinking that Devil!'

'Eh, she's easy to get rid of. We have wands, do we not?'

'Well yes but... You can't just put a memory charm on her! It's like shooting an animal and saying oops, my bad. Sorry dead animal. Oh yeah you can't hear me because your dead!'

'That's a great idea! Eh, we can live without the polar bears can't we. All they're good for is posing for coca-cola commercials. They haven't done anything for me lately. I knew I rubbed off on you sis,' the Devil Lily thought.

'No! The polar bears like you said pose for the commercials! And don't .Call. Me. SIS!! They would suspect you, and them use _Priori _Incantem and then you go to Azkaban. Which means you never, ever, ever, ever, EVER get to see James again. He won't visit you there either, all because you messed with his girlfriend,' Angel Lily reasonably and calmly stated.

'Well--' spluttered Devil Lily, ' Eh, what the heck. You win for now sis, but that's just because I'm tired!'

The whole Lily came back to her senses. She was still staring in the direction of James' eyes, but not directly. She was more in a daze then anything. James was to elated to notice anything out of the ordinary.

"No, No, NO, NO,NO, NO!" said Lily, voice getting louder with each 'no'.

"No what exactly?" James asked tentatively.

"No,"

"Huh?"

"You did not just kiss me?" Lily asked fearfully. "NO, you-you couldn't have. You have a girlfriend, and you're..."

"Lily,"

"James," she said softly, the fear showing in her voice. She just _helped_ James cheat on his girlfriend. That was even worse now that she was involved in the cheating.

"I did kiss you," he said taking a few small un-noticeable steps forward, after he had disabled the straps with his wand that he always kept under his pillow.

"But-but why?"

"Do you really have to ask that question?"

"Yes,"

"I kissed you because I love you,"

"James," Lily started, "You _don't _love me. It's infatuation. You know foolish or unreasoning passion. Key word 'foolish'. You barely even know me in fact. Sure we spent two weeks of the summer together and you know about me. You just don't know me. I'm sorry."

"Lily, I know _you._ I'm not foolish. And I _do love you_.Trust me. Please," he said in an uncharacteristic pleading voice.

"No James, you don't," she said starting to walk away, breaking the firm grasp she unknowingly held James' hand in. "Wait. How are you walking?"

"Madam Pomfrey fixed my legs somehow. She gave me this nasty tasting potion. It kind of tasted like skelegrow come to think of it. I should be discharged tonight,"

"Oh," was all she said.

When she got halfway to the doors James started talking softly, almost poetically.

"You blink a lot when you happy. You don't cry when your sad. You would rather cry alone with no one to see you, if at all. You always pull the hair out of the left side of your face, never the right," This caused Lily to stop in her tracks. She didn't look back, just listened.

"Your hands tremble when your in front of crowds. Yet your confident demeanor never falters, in fear you'll be seen as weak. Your the most beautiful when your angry. You always have a stray eye-lash on your face in the morning. You have a fleck of gold in each eye. Your blush is the cutest thing you wear,"

At these words Lily's eyes started to well up with bug fat tears. She still stayed rooted to the spot, not yet turning even her head the slightest fraction of a degree back.

"You don't pale when your nervous, but your complexion turns darker. You talk about studying and how it is so important. Your eyes tell a different story. You know I love you, and I can't afford to lose you. Lily your my everything. I don't even like Renee. She was just to help me get over my feelings towards you, just like all the other girls I've dated,"

"H-h-h-how d-did you k-know all of that ab-b-bout me?"

"I pay attention, love. What do you think I do during Transfiguration? Work? I know all of it already. I stare at you the whole time. Nodding to whatever Sirius is rambling on about at the moment,"

"I-I-I--"

"You don't have to say anything, love," he whispered taking a step closer.

When he was only a head away, he started to lean down to kiss her again.

Abruptly she turned her head sharply, fear flooding through her eyes, her hair hitting the all to familiar face of James Potter. 'Did he really love her? Or was he just making all this up? He couldn't be though. Some of the things he said she didn't even know about herself.'

Taking a deep breath, she started to speak.

"I can't do this... I'm sorry James,"

"What?" he asked crestfallen.

"I can't do this, what ever this is with you. I'm sorry," with that she dashed out of the Hospital Wings double doors faster then you could say 'Quidditch'. She didn't stop running until she got to the Common Room. Not even when she heard James' heart broken voice screaming her name.

"Oh my, what's wrong Lily dear?" the Fat Lady asked worriedly.

"Chizpurfle,"

"Well then," the Fat Lady said indignantly while she open up for Lily to dash through to the other side, and slam her shut with a thud.

"Alice!" she yelled through the Common Room looking for her friend. She couldn't be found though. The people who did inhabit the Common Room were looking at her funny. Lily Evans never cried. Now she was looking around frantically for her friend. This just wasn't normal.

Then Lily remember her and Frank were probably outside by the lake.

She bolted up the staircase to the girls looking for another one of her friends to vent to. When she got there it was empty. Clothes strewn everywhere, beds unmade, pillows lying hidgley-pigdely over the floor, and bras hanging off most of the possible hooks. Like on the towel hangers on the bathroom door, on the bedposts, and the windowsill. In short the room was a pigsty.

She ran back down the staircase, and found her legs moving towards the boys staircase. Once she got to the staircase itself she gingerly walked up the stairs. Narrowly avoiding stepping on a disregarded roll of Spellotape, a piece to an alarm clock, and a stray sneakoscope.

The reached the top of the staircase. The Seventh Year Boys Dorm. It was at the top of the tower just like the Seventh Year Girls dorm. It had a plaque on it the read

'Seventh Year Boys Dorm

Home of the Marauders (and two other fellows)

James, Sirius, Remus, Peter (and Frank and Logan)

KEEP OUT!

Lily laughed aloud when she read this, typical Marauders...

She warily open the door, afraid of the mess she would find inside. Then she realize it couldn't be worse than her room. Thankfully somebody was in here. Peter. He jumped at the sound of the door being open.

The room was messy. There was no other word to describe it. She had been wrong when she said it couldn't have been worse then her room. There were dirty clothes, Quidditch gear, shoes, socks, old parchment, broken quills, even an empty plate lying in the middle of the floor.

"L-Lily? What are you doing here? Why are you crying? Come here, sit," He ordered. _"Scourgify,"_

"I just needed somebody to talk to, and the girls are all gone..." she trailed off.

"Well what do you need to talk about?"

"James," she said softly, without a trace of emotion.

"He kissed me," Peter's eyes lit up with surprise.

"And, I kissed him back,"

"That's not so bad Lily," he comforted.

"He has a _girlfriend_ Peter. Last time I checked. It wasn't me,"

"Well then what happened?"

"Then well I kinda ran away," she said sheepishly while Peter chuckled.

"Don't laugh!" said Lily playfully pushing Peter.

"I'm not," cough, "I'm not," Peter said regaining his composure.

"But, he stopped me. He started saying that he loved me. I told him he didn't it was just infatuation," laughed Lily lightly. "Then he went into listing all of these little things about- about me. Things that I didn't even know about myself." she said softly.

"He tried to kiss me again, and then I ran for good,"

Peter just stared at her obviously thinking.

"So... What do I do!?" Lily cried.

"Calm down Lily." the comforting words seeped through her body. She loved having somebody to talk to that wouldn't tease her like the girls, and that would just listen. Sure he might be one of her problem's best friends. But hey, it was better than nothing.

"I think you should talk to James,"

"I tried that already! He just tried to kiss me! That's not what I want. I mean it is, but not while he has a girlfriend,"

"Well then we break them up," he said easily.

"No, that's mean and interfering with both of their lives. Which is bad,"

"And no we can not prank Renee into hating James," she said sternly cutting off Peter's idea.

"Ok, then we wait,"

"We can't just wait!" Lily said now crying again. Peter softly wiped the tears from her eyes, in a brotherly manner. At this time apparently Sirius decided it would be a great time to end Quidditch practice and walk into the room.

"Erm, what's going on her Wormtail?" Remus asked accusingly.

"Oh, I just came in here to talk to somebody, and Peter was available," Lily said looking the two straight in the eyes, so they could tell she wasn't lying.

"Ok. we believe you," Sirius said after a few minutes.

"So what are we talking about?" he said as he plopped down onto his bed, muddy Quidditch gear and all.

"Don't you think you guys should change first?"

"Oh yeah, oops," Remus said sheepishly and starting taking off his shirt.

"I meant after I leave the room,"

"Aw, come on Lils you've seen us in boxer before. I mean you've only lived with us for about seven years. Besides we were at your house for two weeks,"

"OK, whatever you say," As the boys were changing out of their muddy Quidditch practice uniforms, Lily started telling the story all over again. By the time she was done and she had cleaned their Quidditch uniforms, their room, and her tear stained face, the boys, minus Peter, were all staring at her open mouthed.

"Well good for Prongs. I knew he would grow up one day, suck up his pride, and kiss you," Sirius said cheerfully until he saw Lily's glare. "I mean, it was horrible of him to do that to Renee. Bad James. Just horrible," he said through a concealed grin.

"I know right!"

"Well he shouldn't have put all of this on you after you refused the first time,"

"Well I didn't actually refuse. I kissed him back, THEN I realized it was wrong,"

"Oh, well regardless. He knew you didn't want to kiss him again. Now, no offense your an emotional wreck. I think it's more of a stress thing, but still. He disregarded your wishes,"

"Yeah he did didn't he?" Lily agreed. "Wow guys, you really know how to make a girl feel better," Lily said her voice positively dripped in sarcasm.

"Thanks, were here to help," Sirius exclaimed enthusiastically, obviously missing the sarcasm.

This made the three roll their eyes, not so discreetly. Sirius just shrugged and gave Lily a big hug. Joined by his fellow Marauders in seconds.

"I love you guys," said a muffled voice coming from Sirius' shoulder.

"We love you to Lils'. Remember we're always here if you need us. We'll give James a bloody hell of a talking to later. Ok?" Lily let out a small laugh. Somehow she remember to tell them he was most likely being discharged tonight.

"Yeah, you do that. Just don't use wands. Be safe, you know his temper,"

"Lily! We'll be fine. He won't hurt his best mates. Besides even if he did there are five of us, if you include Logan and Frank,"

"What about Logan and Frank?" said the voices of Logan and Frank from the door frame.

"Oh nothing, just if we need back up when we tell off James," Remus replied.

"Why would you..." Frank started.

"We'll explain later," Peter answered.

"Ok, well I have to do my Charms essay, and my star chart,"

"Lily, those aren't due for two weeks!" cried Logan.

"Well when you need help last minute don't come running to me! Bye!" she screamed happily over her shoulder.

* * *

**_Later that night_**

"Hey guys," James said in a buoyant voice. "Guys?" James clicked the light switch on. The room flooded with light, illuminating all five of his dorm mates.

"Oh hey guys, I was..." but he trailed off when he saw their angry, almost murderous faces. 'They must be mad that I didn't tell them I was getting discharged tonight.'

"Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys I was getting out tonight. In my defense you never visited me," he tried,rising his own defenses, alone.

"We don't care that you bloody didn't tell us you were getting out," Logan said fiercely.

"Lily told us," Peter said, almost threateningly. When he said this Peter felt something he wasn't used to. Power. Leadership. These were all feeling that he could feel pumping through he veins. It was increasing with every second.

"Oh, is this what your mad about? The kiss? Well sorry I didn't tell you guys, but you didn't visit me!" he cried defensively.

"Do you have the mirror on you? I think that would be a yes, seeing as you have a mirror shaped lump in your left robe pocket," Frank said. (Logan and Frank knew about the mirror and the map. Even Remus being a werewolf. They figured it out in fourth year. The only thing they didn't really know was the James, Sirius, and Remus were animagus.)

"That's not why were mad thoguh," Remus stated.

"No, Moony, we are mad about that. Just not the part where he didn't tell us. Why did you try to kiss her again?" Sirius said menacingly

"I thought she might want to,"

"After she deliberately said she didn't?"

"Well I thought she might of changed her mind," James said shrugging.

"She was crying. Lily _never _cries. Even you know that," Sirius yelled in his best friends face.

"She could have been happy..."

"Yeah, the miserable, troubled, guilty face gave it away didn't it?" Sirius asked sarcastically. "You also cheated on Renee. You don't cheat Prongs. What's with you?" he asked, his eyes searching his best friend for some sort of sign.

"Nothing is wrong with me!" James roared.

"Well something must be! Your acting like a jerk to Lily. I mean it was obvious she didn't want to kiss you. From what I heard you tricked her into kissing you the first time. Then she tells you why she didn't want to kiss you again, and how it was wrong of you to do that . Then you go around and try to kiss her again. Now she feels like a bloody tramp for kissing you while you were dating Renee. You know how she feels about guilt. She is going to start sulking if you keep it up,"

"Well just because I try to kiss the girl of my dreams doesn't mean that I'm bloody insane or something!"

"Well if your not trying to change, I guess we aren't friends anymore. Lily is like a sister to all of us. If you hurt her, you hurt us. This isn't only about Lily either. Last night you were acting like a prat. There was no excuse for it either. You were being totally unreasonable without remorse. Then you never properly apologized to any of us. I think that's the reason,"

"Well mate I'm sorry. There I apologized. Now lets go to Hogsmeade for a guys night out and put all of this behind us, eh?"

"No Prongs. We can't just drink our problems away. That wasn't even a proper apology. Just grow up," said Remus feeling bad for his friend's crestfallen face, but he knew it was the only way to get the real James back.

"Well I'll just go out with Renee then," he said haughtily, stomping out into the Common Room and out of the Portrait Hole.

"I guess I'm doing his rounds tonight then," sighed Remus.

"You've done enough for him Remus. I'll have Alice or Morgan patrol with her tonight. Actually I think the poor girl deserves a break. I'll tel them to do it for her. They won't object, Lily was bound to tell them about today anyways," Frank said sympathetically.

"OK, you go tell the girls. I'm going to bed. All of this fighting makes me sleepy," Peter yawned.

**A/N: If you have ever read the Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series you'll know what I'm talking about when I say that Lord Apollo and Devil Lily are alike. Then Lady Artemis and Angel Lily are... Actually that's kind of what I based them off of... If you haven't read the series I strongly recomend it. It has nothing on Harry Potter of course, but for a regular old book it does pretty well. It is my second favorite series. Or third. It is a toss up between them and the one with the books Uglies, Prettties, Specials, and Extras. You know that series? ****This only took two and a half hours to think of by the way... I'm so very proud of my self. This chapter is one of the longer ones, then the past anyways. I haven't written this much in a while. Even though I am counting this very long Author's Note in it... :) **** By The Way - Love The Reviews!! Keep 'em coming guys. The more reviews I get, the happier I am. When I'm happier I write more. Which means it'll be better then if I am sad and don't get reviews... So the moral of the last few sentences here is REVIEW!!**

**-Love your Author,**

**Brittney/ Sirius' Sweetheart**


	15. Unwelcome Visitors

For the next few weeks Morgan and Alice switched off to do patrol with James. It had been about two weeks since Halloween night, and Lily and James were acting incredibly cold towards on another. At first it was just the guys in his dorm, then Lily and the girls caught on. Lily still felt increadilby guilty for kissing James, even though it wasn't really her fault. So instead, Lily would pair up with Remus or Joshua Davies, the Ravenclaw prefect. They had become really good friends, and Lily couldn't believe her and Josh hadn't hit it off a few years ago.

She was somehow mad at James. She knew why, but she didn't know why she was mad over it. She stayed away from him as much as possible though. It didn't help that they were working on the same Snargaluff stump together in Herbology, it was their term's project. There were only Sirius and Lauren to separate them. Sirius and Lauren were still mad at James too, for making Lily cry and all, but they sucked it up and sat next to him at their table.

"Can you pass me my _Dragon Hide_gloves?" James asked smugly, as if knowing his extra expensive,high end gloves would impress any of them. The thing was Sirius had the same gloves, also they knew he had rich parents who were both highly respected Aurors. They just all figured all of his stuff was like this and had learned to ignore it over the past six and a half years.

"Here," Lily said coldly, thrusting the gloves into his cold hands.

"Thanks," he muttered, inserting a gum shield just like the others.

"So Lily, are you going with anybody to Hogsmeade this Friday?" asked Lauren through her own gum shield.

"No, but I was thinking about asking out Josh Davies. You know the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain," Lily replied thoughtfully, pulling on gloves and safety goggles of her own.

At this James almost choked on his own laughter.

"Josh? Josh Davies?"

"Yeah. What's it to you?" Lily replied coolly.

"Oh nothing," he said regaining his cool. "It's just that We're playing Ravenclaw on Friday. You can't date him! He's- he's- he's the enemy!" James spluttered, while Lauren was busy sticking her hand into the stump, trying to pry out a pod.

"The enemy?" Lily asked icily. "The enemy? What about inter-house unity? Just because he's from a different house doesn't mean he's the enemy. The only people I would even consider being enemies at this school are the Slytherins, you should know that much. Besides what do you care if I date him or not. He's just a guy,"

"Hey! Don't those clouds look pretty?" Sirius said, trying to break the growing tension at the table, while tring to help Lauren.

"Oh yeah, look that ones all puffy! It looks like a bunny!" exclaimed Lauren catching on to her boyfriend's idea, but to no avail.

"Yeah, but he'll be expecting for you to cheer for Ravenclaw because he's the captain," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Psh, yeah right. You know I'll cheer for Gryffindor. I'm not that low. Just because I helped you cheat on your girlfriend accidentally, doesn't mean I'm a slut," unfortunately today they had Herbology with the Ravenclaws. Now not many people were paying attention to their little feud, Josh included. Others on the other hand that loved gossip, and James' fan girls who just hated Lily with a passion were. Josh didn't hear the part about Lily wanting him to ask her out, but everybody else heard everything from the first mention of Josh Davies.

"Have you told Renee yet?" she said a little more quietly noticing everybody looking at her.

"No,"

"Well you should 'ya know."

James snorted with laughter.

"Yeah right. Like I'm going to tell my girlfriend I cheated on her,"

"If you don't do it I'll do it for you,"

"Not even you are that mean Evans,"

"Try me,"

"No,"

"Renee! Can you come over here for a second? James wants to tell you something,"

Renee's scowl turned into a bright smile at James' name, and she started skipping over to their table. Sirius and Lauren were pretty scratched up already, from doing all the work. By now they had gotten out two pods. Now there was a bowl full of green wriggling worms in the middle of the table.

"Miss Abercrombie! Please get back to work," Professor Sprout snapped.

"Hold on,"

"Miss Abercrombie," she said warningly.

"I said hold on!"

An offended Professor Sprout let out a small indignant humph, and set off towards the other side of the classroom.

"What did you want to say to me Jamie?" she asked beaming, James had never invited her over to his table before.

"Oh. I erm-"

Lily on the other hand had explained this around five times already, so she just kept her cool.

"James didn't tell you?" she asked innocently.

"James didn't tell me what? Spit it out Evans," her demeanor changing instantly at the sound of Lily's voice.

"James kissed me!" she blurted out, but immediately regretted it. Renee just slapped her hard on the cheek. The cold from the air, and the crisp smooth surface of her glove didn't make it any better.

"Say it again Evans. I dare you,"

Lily sighed as if this was a chore.

"James-kissed-me," she drawled. Renee drew her hand back to slap her again, and Lily braced herself for the impact. It never came though.

"Don't ever touch Lily again," Sirius said menacingly, Lauren's wand drawn along with the rest of the Gryffindor girls who were at a nearby table.

Tears welling up in her eyes, she addressed James/

"Tell me it's not true James," Renee pleaded quietly.

"Well we did kiss," he said regretfully. "But she was the one who kissed me I didn't have anything to do with it," he said hurriedly.

"WHAT!?" all of the Gryffindors in the room screamed, while Renee and the Ravenclaws let out sighs of relief.

"Ok, good because I thought for a moment she was telling the truth," all of the Gryffindors didn't say anything, just gave their best mega death glares to James and Renee.

James leaned in to give her an apologetic kiss. The kiss was more like a snog and wouldn't had ended anytime soon if Sprout hadn't given them a detention for not working, then another for kissing in the green house. They didn't mind though if anything they were happy to get detention.

* * *

**That night on Patrol Duty**

Lily had asked Josh to fill in for James seeing as he got his arse stuck in detention.

They were patroling next to the Astronomy Tower.

"It wasn't me who kissed him you know," Lily confided.

"Yeah I figured. After these past few weeks of patrolling with you, I've learned you aren't that kind of girl,"

"Thanks you know, for some reason that means a lot,"

"I'll tell you one thing though,"

"What is it?" Lily asked fearing the worst.

"Not many others think that. They pretty much think your a lying banshee," Lily just couldn't supress a loud groan at this.

"A banshee?"

"Yeah," he said sheepishly.

"That was some of the worse things they called you though. I heard a second year call you a broom head. A first year called you a Cauldron Bum,"

"First and second years are talking about me?" she cried mortified. "Don't they have their own little lives to gossip about?"

"Yeah probably. They just find your more interesting," grinned Josh toothily. Lily pushed him playfully into the wall.

"At least all of the Gryffindors believe me,"

"Really? I would have thought they would take James' side. No offense or anything, but he's just more popular,"

"Yeah, and no offense taken. They know James was lying for many reasons actually. Reason one: His best mates aren't talking to him anymore, but hanging out with me and my friends instead. Reason two: Sirius told the whole common room he made me cry. It embarrassed me, but being Sirius he just had to make it a big deal. Lastly reason three: All of the seventh year guys have been pushing James around lately. I think I'm going to need a body guard from all of his fan girls. Who knew they could be so vicious you know?"

"Are you hiring body guards? Because I'd be happy to escort you throguh Hogsmeade, the hallways, patrols,"

"Are you asking me out?" Lily asked accusingly.

"That depend. Would you say yes?"

"Yeah, I would," she said timidly.

"Then no," he said in a totally serious tone.

"No?"

"Nope,"

"Wait. No, no? or No, yes?"

"What?" asked a confused Josh.

"Are you asking me to Hogsmeade or not?"

"Which one is the right answer?" he asked under Lily's playful glare.

"Yes would be the right answer,"

"Ok, then yes,"

"Then yes,"

"Are you accepting my invitation then?" he asked, "Just to make sure," he added hurriedly.

Lily cornered him against the wall, stood on her tip-toes and kissed his lips gently.

"I'm going to take that as a yes,"

"You would be correct. Come on let's get back to the common rooms. Nobody is even out this late at night. I mean we have tests in most classes tomorrow anyways," she said tugging on his hand.

Right as they got up to the seventh floor, by the entrance to Gryffindor Tower they heard a racket. It was undoubtedly coming from a broom cupboard.

Lily just rolled her eyes, and told Josh she'd handle it and should go up to bed. Giving him another kiss goodnight, she walked up to the broom cupboard and knocked.

"We're kind of busy in here!" said a gruff voice, soon a shill shriek could be heard from the other occupant.

She just knocked again, hoping to get her point across. Another girlish shriek of pleasure rang through out her ears. The scream was shrill enough to make her skin crawl. Yeah she totally knew what their point was, Lily thought.

Lily thought, I guess this is the only way. A threat.

"Get your bloody arses out of that cupboard or else you both get a weeks worth of detention," Lily threatened, trying her best to sound stern when really she was trying not to laugh at their tactlessness.

"When do you think we just came from?" asked the girl, followed by a groan of pleasure.

"Do I have to blast this door open?"

No response. Lily took that as a yes. She gave the unknown couple five seconds to gather their bearings. They didn't make any noise to suggest they heard her either.

Bracing herself Lily chose a blasting charm. Closing her eyes she flicked her wand and thought very hard, '_Reducto!'._

The cupboard around the couple disintegrated into dust. Her eyes still closed and lips pursed she addressed the two.

"You know, next time you hear somebody say they're going to blast the door off of where ever you are. I would suggest thinking that they have amazing charm work and will _accidentally _disintegrate the whole place to nothingness," she said sweetly. Finally opening her eyes, her jaw dropped at the surprise of the mystery couple. I mean she had a good idea who it was, but she didn't expect herself to be right. She just couldn't contain her laughter anymore. The sight of James half naked along with Renee was just to funny. Renee was rushing to button up her blouse again, while James was just pulling his robe over himself.

"What's so funny Evans?" James snarled.

"Nothing Potter, Abercrombie, it's just that I didn't think anybody would be so stupid to go, well do the deed, in the broom cupboard closest to Gryffindor Tower. You know for Head Boy and a Prefect, you two are prett darn stupid. I mean you should know this is one of the most frequently patroled spots," Lily snorted full of mirth.

"Your just jealous," Renee said snootily.

Lily's laugh faded.

"Why is that Abercrombie?"

"Evans, we've had this conversation before. I mean it's clear that you want James to yourself. They're no point hiding that. Besides the fact that I'm prettier than you, more popular, and more sought out bothers you," Renee said putting a hand on Lilys shoulder that she slapped off.

"If that's you idea of kissing up, you have work to do. THIRTY POINTS FROM REVENCLAW AND GRYFFINDOR! There was ten for disobeying an authority figure, "

"Evans if you hadn't realized, your not my authority. We share the position," James said smugly.

"Yeah but the thing with that is, I can still take away points. It's not your night for patrol, seeing as you screwed up the schedule. I am authority to the student body of Hogwarts, which you are both part of. Renee, you can just think of me as you boss. One more wrong move against me, either of you for that matter, your going to be stripped of your badges," at the end of Lily's speech both of their mouths were bound to be catching flies.

"You can't do that!" cried Renee. "I'm going to be talking to professor McGonnagal about this. You're Head Girl right? Aren't they supposed to be _nice_ to their fellow prefects. For all you know we could have been inspecting the broom cupboard," Renee said pointedly.

"Nice try Prissy, last time I checked didn't take two people shrieking and groaning to inspect a brrom cupboard. While your talking to McGonnagall, you should mention that. Now if you would appreciate it I would like to go to bed. Seeing as I can't trust you two, I'm going to have to escort both of you to your common rooms. We'll go to Miss Prissy's here first," she said in a sickly sweet manner.

"Why can't we just go to Gryffindor Tower, it's right there. I can see the Fat Lady!"

"Now now James, what had the poor woman ever done to you. You can't call her fat just because she's over weight. Your Head Boy right?" she asked mocking his girlfriend.

With a few inaudibly mumblings later, they finally arrived back at Gryffindor Tower. By this time Lily had James by his ear, dragging him up the staircase with a stern expression on her face. She deposited him in his dorm and went back down to the common room to go tell the girls about her new Hogsmeade plan.

**A/N: For those of you who didn't really like the whole thing with the broom cupboard, sorry but I kind of wanted to portray Renee as that kind of girl. Also since I know many people don't like that sort of thing it will be, very, limited. For those of you who don't mind it, good for you. I also wanted to portray James as somebody that was being an insecure prat, and ran to his girlfriend to fix it all. That of course is just a phase, he'll get over it soon I promise. Also you can see Lily kind of hates both of them at the moment, she likes being the one to rebuddle against wise cracks. Well I have to go to bed now, or this Authors Note would have undoubtedly be longer. Toodles! I'll update in a few days! REMEMBER! SEVEN REVIEWS FOR A POST!! I LOVE REVIEWS!**

**All my authorly love!,**

**Brittney/Sirius' Sweetheart (which ever you want to call me!)**


	16. A Gravely Road Traveled

**Sorry this chapter took so long! -hangs head in shame- I'm a horrible author! I know the last chapter _might _have been awkward for those of you who read it before i slightly edited the end of it, but it was just characterizing Renee. Well it's here now, finally. I just got a little bit lazy, and tired, and then of course school happened. I hate science just to let you know. My science teacher too. So for my science teacher who isn't reading this and never will, I Hate You. Well I suppose you don't want to listen to my rambling about my evil science teacher, so yeah on with the story. You guys know I don't own any of these characters so yeah... Here 'ya go!**

The next few days just flew by for Lily. She was always seen with a crazy grin on her face. Especially when Josh was around. Nobody noticed James uneasiness, nor his failed attempts to make the rest of them jealous his time was being spent, well not with them. They all liked Josh in short. He was cute, funny, charming, and smart. Everything Lily ever wanted in a guy. Even Sirius approved after a thorough interrogation.

The day of the Hogsmeade visit was no different.

"Hey baby," Josh said, sliding onto the bench at Gryffindor Table giving Lily a peck on the cheek.

Before Lily had a chance to answer Kylie jumped in.

"Oh hey Josh," Kylie said cheerfully. Lily always had this thing about answering people first, it was one of those odd little quirks about her.

Lily just tossed a playful glare in Kylie's direction.

"He _was_ talking to me 'ya know,"

"Ya I know. It's just fun to push your buttons," Kylie responded spreading some marmalade onto her already butter loaded toast.

"So," Josh started breaking off the playful little mini battle between the best friends so early in the morning. "What are we doing in Hogsmeade?"

"Well," Lily started, "I was thinking that we could go to Honeydukes first. I need to restock on my Ice Mice and Drooble's Best Blowing Bubble Gum, maybe even get some Pumpkin Pasties for Lauren since I ate her last pack."

"Sounds good to me. How about after that we can go to the Shrieking Shack or something. It's the most haunted house in Britain,"

"Yeah over the past three years of Hogsmeade visits I think I've established that." she said letting out an un-Lily like giggle.

"Right, well then we could just wander the streets and meet the others at the Three Broomsticks at one?"

"No, sorry, one isn't good for us," Sirius said pointing at Lauren and himself.

"Why?" Lauren asked.

"Because, we have to make a stop at Zonko's at 12:30!" he said as if it was obvious.

"So,"

Sirius sighed. "So.... That means we have to get our full hour in there!"

"An HOUR?" she asked.

"Well yeah, you didn't think that we would just leave all of the new merchandise for amateurs to buy did you?" he asked laughing.

"I guess not. But we ARE meeting Lily and Josh at the Three Broomsticks at one thirty. Madam Rosemerta would be disappointed to see one of her best customers not show up," said teasingly.

Rosemerta was the pretty Barmaid at the Three Broomsticks. She always had on a pair of sparkly heels to match her outfit. She graduated four years ago, so she was still young, and loved to humor the Marauders.

"So I'm guessing that Remus, Peter, and Morgan will be coming with?"

"Why do I have to go?" Morgan whined jokingly.

"I'm not going to be the only girl there! Alice and Frank are going to be on their date. Lily and Josh will be together, and Kylie and Logan are going to be on their date as well. You have nobody to go with besides me. Don't think I didn't have this planned out either. It'll be fun, maybe,"

"Yeah, maybe." Morgan grumbled, really she was glad she and Lauren were going to hang out together with Remus, Peter, and Sirius. That meant she and Remus would be able to spend some time together. Ruining her unhappy act, she started smiling uncontrollably.

"Erm, Morg? Why are grinning like an idiot?" Peter asked. Morgan turned a dark shade of red when Peter pointed this out. Everybody started laughing and just joking around for about five more minutes. Until of course James and Renee had to come over and ruin it.

Sliding down next to Sirius he and Renee started talking, Renee giggling like the bimbo she really was.

"Oh James you are sssoooo funny," she said batting her eyelashes, sliding her hand down James arm. It was quite disgusting how open she was about Public Display of Affection (PDA for short).

"Yeah I am aren't I?" tilting his head back so his voice carried over to their group.

"Let's go," Frank suggested seeing the growing tension between the groups.

They got to the carriages clear of anymore obnoxious giggling.

Lily and Josh parted off from the others, and walking hand in hand to Honeydukes.

"Hey look at this!" Lily yelled across the little shop.

"Yeah?" he said hands in the pocket of his jeans walking casually towards her.

"They make the ice move now!" she said excitedly.

"I'll buy them for you, how 'bout that?" he asked sweetly.

"Well...."

"That's what boyfriends are for right?" he asked lightly with a chuckle to go along.

"Sure. Thanks boyfriend," she said giving him a sweet peck on the lips. Lily filled the bag of candy to the top and gave it to Josh to go pay for while she went and did some more sweet shopping.

A half hour later they were walking down the street and down the hill towards the Shrieking Shack.

"You scared?" Josh teased.

"You wish," Lily laughed.

"So do you really think there are ghosts in the shack?" Lily asked.

"No, I think it's a werewolf." At this Lily froze.

"A werewolf?" she asked nervously.

"Well yeah, I mean ghosts don't howl at night do they?"

"I guess not," Lily said chosing her words carefully afraid of letting something slip of Remus' condition. She had a habit of rambling when she was nervous.

"Are you scared now?"

Deciding to humor him, Lily put on her best terrified acting face and humored him.

"Are you _sure _it's a werewolf?" Lily asked in her fake scared voice.

"Well yeah," Josh said over confidently, "I mean what else do you know that makes those kinds of scratches there, except a VERY irritated niffler?" He said pointing to some deep long gashes you could see from inside the closed, dirty, window.

"I'm not sure......"

"Let's go back up to the streets," Lily suggested feverishly, starting to get antsy by just standing at the place where Remus had to transform gave her the creeps.

"Ok, I thought you weren't scared though," he said questioningly.

"Oh I'm not it's just we have to meet the others in ten minutes," she said checking her watch.

"OK," Josh said awkwardly. "Whatever you say, what ever you say," he mumbled.

As they started up the hill Lily tripped over a stray tree root.

"Aaaahhhh!" she shrieked in pain.

"Lily!" Josh yelled as she started tumbling down the steep, gravely hill.

As soon as Lily started to plummet towards the ground she instinctively shoved her hands out in front of her and closed her eyes, bracing herself for the impact. It came. As soon as her body got to the 150 degree angle part of her fall, she heard a deafening crack, well for her ears at least. Her ankle had snapped, she had surely broken it, or fractured it at the least.

She started tumbling down the cold, hard, rocky hill.

In one swift movement Josh was holding her by the wrist.

Another crack and her wrist was broken and limp, getting harder and harder to hold onto.

"LILY!!!!!" a scared voice shrieked.

Josh looked up towards the voice quickly. That was just enough motion for his large, rough, hand to slip out of her small, soft, and limp one.

"LILY!!!" another voice yelled from the top of the hill.

"Well... Get her!" Morgan screamed.

"Oh yeah right," and in a flash Josh was running full speed down the hill. For being a in fit Quidditch player, this was pretty fast, going downhill especially.

When he got there he already knew her wrist and ankle were broken, and he now saw all of the tiny scratches, and scrapes, even a few gashes all over her body. At least she was wearing long sleeves that were only partially rolled up.

He decided he didn't have enough time to carry her all the way up, and he knew he couldn't levitate her so he did the only thing he could think of. Apparate. He knew it was especially dangerous when his mind was so muddled, but it was his only chance of actually getting her back up to the street without help.

_Crack._

Unable to hear the crack due to the loud and obnoxious group of boys near them they nearly screamed when they saw Josh, cradling Lily in his arms like a baby, appear out of thin air.

"We need to get her to the Hospital Wing," Josh said hurriedly. "And fast." he added.

"Well if it isn't Davies," a snide voice from behind sneered.

"Sod off Potter," Lauren said pulling her wand out.

"Now, now Lestrange no need for wands," he said smugly.

"No need for you ugly face either," Morgan spat acidly.

"Well at least his face is cuter than your boyfriends," Renee said innocently. "Oh that's right, you don't have one." she said triumphantly.

"Just ignore them," Josh muttered, still not turning around.

"So, did you lose your girlfriend already?" James mused. **(For those of you who are wondering, Josh is next to Lauren and Morgan, so James and Renee can't see Lily's legs. When they turned around the took a step forward, unknowingly blocking their view of Josh from an angle.)**

At this Josh turned around.

"We all will if you don't just get the hell away. She fell down the hill and is losing blood fast. You just had to come and slow us down," he angrily snarled.

Trying to regain his cool, he just started walking forward. Making sure to purposely bang into Lauren's braced shoulder on his way. Renee, Lily's feet.

"Now that that's over with," Lauren mumbled.

"You have to get her to Madam Pomfrey. Her broken wrist and stuff isn't a problem, but the castle is at least a ten minute walk, and she's losing a lot of blood." Lauren said urgently. "There are just so many scrapes and gashes."

"Come on," Josh said, swiftly taking large strides, so that the girls had to jog just to keep up with.

* * *

**(Zonkos)**

"So where do you think the girls went?" Remus asked Sirius.

"They're probably over looking at the Nose Biting Teacups, or something that _looks_ girly," Sirius voiced carelessly.

"Or they ditched us." Remus said in a resigned voice.

"Or, they're just looking at the dung bombs," said Sirius dismissing the thought with a wave of his hand.

"Sirus," Remus started, with a look of pure astonishment of his best friends stupidity. "I _doubt_ Lauren would be looking at dung bombs. Remember in third year when you put one in her satchel?"

Sirius' face paled at the memory.

"Yeah they ditched us." he said trying to recover from the mere thought of Christmas third year.

"So......"

"What!"

"I have a really bad feeling about this," he muttered.

"Fine, we'll go looking for them if that's how you really want to spend the rest of your trip,"

"You can always come back later, or next trip. We can even sneak out," Peter said, appearing out of nowhere apparently having listen to the whole conversation.

"Wormtail, we've been over this. One visit per trip. Remember what happened that one time we came _twice_?" he asked, now obviously irritated at his friends.

Peter and Remus simulataneously gulped.

"Third Year was a bad year. I never knew Lily and Kylie could hit so hard," Peter shuddered.

"Ok, fine we'll leave. Potter has the map anyways." he muttered darkly. "I mean it's not like we can prank without.... him," Sirius trailed off. He was referring to James of course, or Potter as he was called by them. In their second year when they found out about Remus' condition they made a pact. A pact to forever be friends, and never prank, make a new pact, have secrets, nor secretly date without the rest knowing.

When they got outside they were met with the squabble between the two parties in plain sight.

They noticed three things.

1) Lily was obvoisly hurt, in pain, unconcious, bleeding, and being held in somebody's arms.

2) Potter and Abercrombie were amused at the sight of Lily being hurt, mangled, and bleeding, or that's how they saw it anyways from the distance.

3) Potter was there.

**And CUT!!!!!!! I know it's been awhile since I'm posted, and as I've said I am SO sorry! Again evil science teachers do affect my mood. And evil science teacher's homework. -grumbles- Well I'm finally finished. I started to read the Twlight series also this week, that's another reason why I didn't post a few days earlier. For those of you who got mad in a few previous chapters when I mentioned the name Jacob Black, I still don't regret it. I don't like Jacob Black very much. I just finished New Moon, so I still might change my mind, THEN apologize to you but yeah....**

**LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!! REVIEW PLEASE!!!!!!!!!! YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!**

**Again, love you!**

**-Brittney**


	17. Breakups and Makeups

"James, I don't feel very well!" Renee whined.

"Deal with it Renee," he mumbled.

Renee scowled and said, "You know ever since that one night we got caught, you've been.. different."

"Different times, different people,"

"You don't really love me do you?" she whispered, a horrified expression daring to cross her relatively flawless features.

"Renee, not now please. Lily's in the Hospital Wing and I feel like it's all my fault," he said rubbing his temples with the tips of his fingers.

"When did Evans get in to this?" Renee screamed now standing up.

"Renee," he moaned.

"WHAT!"

"Can we please not get into this?"

"NO! We're dealing with this now."

"Fine!" he bellowed back. "What do you want to talk about?"

"THIS!" she said waving her arms around manically.

"Care to elaborate?" James asked snidely.

"Listen here James Potter, and listen well," Renee said poking him in the chest with each word. "I have put my heart and soul in to this relationship"

"So have I," he said nonchantly.

"Don't give me that. Do you think I'm blind or something? I can _see _you looking at Evans longingly. Frankly that doesn't bother me. The way you treat her is what bothers me. I don't like Evans," she sighed, "Trust me on that. It's just that you haven't been fair to her at all. If that's the way you're going to treat other woman.... I'm sorry but it repulses me."

"So let me get this straight..... Your mad that I'm being mean to people you don't like????" he inquired incredulously.

"No, I'm mad that you're being horrible to her! I know you were the one who kissed her and not the other way around. I mean honestly James. Did you _see _the betrayal and hurt on her face when you said that. Not to mention the hatred,

"I mean it's obvious that you still like her. It's like a first year! Be mean, act all tough, and ask her out. I know the drill. I've experienced it many times."

"So you _want_ me to be nice to Evans?"

"Well yeah. She's a good person. She _was_ starting to fall for you. Until you screwed it up that is. Now she almost hates you again. I could tell,"

"It's a girl thing." she explained seeing James' confused expression.

"Are you breaking up with me?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess I am." she admitted thoughtfully.

"You know Renee; you're a good person too. Do you still want to be friends????" he asked shyly; for once in his life.

She smiled. "I'd like that."

"So where does this put us now?"

"Well I guess you should go apologize to your friends. They deserve it. Be patient with them, because I know they can be...stubborn. You might want to go check on Lily first though. She needs you right now. As a friend."

"Thanks Renee. For being so nice about this and all. I know it must be hard for you to be nice to them. Since well erm..... 'ya know,"

Renee laughed. "You mean since they hated me? Well yeah, I get that _now_. I mean I never understood their problem until a few seconds ago."

"I'd better go. I haven't pulled a prank in weeks."

"Bye Renee," he shouted over his shoulder as he ran down the deserted corridor

"Bye James," she whispered to herself, wiping a stray, unnoticed, tear off her pretty face.

* * *

"Lily?" he whispered. He was in the Hospital Wing. He snuck in; knowing Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let him in anyways, regardless.

"Josh?" she asked, eyes snapping open.

"No, not Josh. It's James," James said slowly, fearing her reaction.

Lily's face turned stone cold, her eyes flashed with anger, confusion, happiness, worry, and most of all hope; layered under all the other emotions it layed the thickest.

"What are _you _doing here?" she asked icily.

"I-I-I-I came to.... apologize"

"You don't sound so sure of yourself if you ask me?"

"I wasn't asking you," he said, temper flaring up.

Lily raised her eyebrows.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"It's ok, go on,"

"Well, I wanted to apologize first for today. I was completely out of line. I know you were unconcious and all, but I wasn't being the most pleasant person in the world to your boyfriend. Well your friends either for that matter.

"Second, I wanted to apologize for saying _you_ were the one who kissed me. I know it probably made your life hell. I mean Head Girl kissing the Head Boy when he has a girlfriend. Sounds scandalist if you ask me."

"I wasn't asking you," she mocked.

"Point taken. Lily I just want to say I'm really, really, really, really, really sorry for everything the past month. If you want me to, I'll get down on my hands and knees and beg," he pleaded.

"Go on then."

"What?"

"You said you would get on your hands and knees, let's go!"

"It was rhetorical," he muttered.

"Do you want my forgiveness or not?"

"I _guess _it's worth it. Ok Lily will you pretty please with treacle tart, whipped cream, strawberries, cherries, blueberries, fudge, ice mice, sugar, and cinnoman on top forgive me?" seeing Lily's skeptical expression he added, 'please' weakly.

"Well........ You have to do something for me first," she decided.

"Ok whatever you want." he said grateful for her easy forgiveness.

"Accept _my _apology,"

_"Your_ apology?_" _he asked; making it evident he was confused.

"Yes _my _apology. Why is that so hard to believe?"

"You have nothing to apologize for!" he practically shouted.

"Yes I do. Now don't say anything until I finish ok?"

James put his hand over his mouth; chilishly enough; and sat with perfect posture making sure it was clear that he was listening.

"I apologize for being so....... prejudice against Renee."

"How'd..." Lily cut him off.

"No talking. She came to see me and explain before you even got here." she explained.

"I now know she's a nice person along with being smart. Sorry I was so mean to both of you. You deserved it no doubt," she added quickly, "But, I'm still sorry,"

"Second, I want to say I'm really, really, really sorry that you took that curse for me." Lily bowed her head, and let a salty tear trickle down her face.

James put his finger on her chin and lifted it lightly.

"I _chose_ to do that Lily. You couldn't have done anything to stop me. I don't know what I would have done if I saw you be hospitalized for almost two months, just knowing that I could have taken the curse for you would have killed me."

"Don't say that," she whispered.

"No I mean it Lily. You need to know that."

"I do know that," she yawned.

"You need your sleep. I guess falling down a hill really takes a lot out of you," he teased lightly.

"I'd say," she grunted. "Nothing like getting your wrist and ankle broken, losing 2 pints of blood, and waking up to your enemy of a month, all in one day." she said sarcasm laced thoughout her voice.

"Sleep well," James said softly as Lily passed out right then and there.

James just sat there staring at Lily for several minutes, then grudgingly remembered he had other apologies to make. Other apologies that wouldn't be so pleasant. He cringed at the thought.

He trekked his way up to the Gryffindor Common room. His eyes were scanning the room for his fellow roomates, and their girlfriends/crush (in Remus' case).

Deciding a direct approach was the best he walked over to his ex-friends inconspicuously.

He plopped himself down on the floor right next to Peter, who he thought would be the least dangerous. Peter always looked up to James, so he thought that it would be the safest place to sit if somebody decided to lash out on him.

"Hey guys, what up?"

They all looked at eachother silently debating what to do. Suddenly Sirius nodded.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Sirius asked, unknowingly repeating Lily's exact reaction to seeing him at her bedside.

James sighed. 'This is the hard part.' he thought silently to himself.

"I decided it was time to say I'm sorry,"

"James Potter say he's sorry! I'm shocked," Kylie said sarcastically.

'Wel at least there's sarcasm,' he thought.

"Yeah, yeah, make fun of me. I'll deal with it,"

"So really, why are you here?" Morgan asked curiously.

"I told you, I wanted to say I'm sorry for everything. Like everything everything."

"Well let's hear it," Remus said.

James sighed. "Well I'm sorry I was _trying_ to show off with Renee. I know it must have been a little annoying for you to watch that."

"A little annoying?" Logan asked incredulously.

"Try humongo-gynormously ennoying," Frank chiped in.

"Ok so it was humongo-gynormously annoying, and I'm sorry for that. It was just so you would think I wasn't affected by not hanging out with you guys," James admitted sheepishly.

"Also," he breathed. "I want to say that I know I shouldn't have been such a Slytherin to you guys,"

"It wasn't as bad as the Slytherins," Peter admitted. Everyone glared besides James who looked at his old friend appreciately.

"What?!?! He wasn't! He didn't curse you guys or anything did he?" Peter defended.

The group all looked away averting their eyes.

"That's what I thought." he ended smugly.

"Fine you weren't as bad as the Slytherins," Lauren admitted deflated.

"Thank you but I deserved that title,"

"No you didn't mate," Sirius said regrettably.

"Really James you suck at this whole apology thing," Alice snickered.

"Wow thanks Alice that makes me feel _so _much better about myself,"

"I know right!"

James just rolled his eyes at his old friend.

"So are we friends again?" he asked hopefully.

"Well......" they all teased.

"There is one thing," Frank started.

"That you could do for us," Logan continued.

"What is it?" he asked suspiciously.

"You have to run through the Great Hall in your boxers screaming I'm a pretty pony!" Kylie declared, eyes shining with mirth.

"No way!" James screamed.

"Hey, it's either that, or we hate you for the rest of your life." Lauren shrugged.

James sighed. He knew they were serious for the who 'hate him for life' thing.

"What color boxers?" he asked moaned.

"Pink of course!" Alice squealed.

"You know, for somebody so small, your really evil?"

"Thanks, it's a gift."

"Can I get this over with?"

"Nope! Not until breakfast tomorrow at least," Remus said, clearly enjoying the payback for yelling at Morgan earlier.

James groaned again.

"Fine,"

"Come on let's go up to bed," Morgan suggested.

"Yeah, I want my eye-sight to be nice and sharp for tomorrow morning. Got to get my rest if I want the memory to last." Alice said cheerily.

"Night Frank," she said giving him a sweet kiss on the cheek.

"Night Logan, night Sirius, night Remus, night James, night Peter!" she said clearly buoyant about morning. She even gave each of them a kiss on the cheek, skipping around to Frank to give him another on the lips this time.

The rest of the girls were obviously happy too. Alice's mood just seemed contagious even to James, who was clearly dreading breakfast time.

"Night Alice," they all chimed.

The night ended on a good note for all of them. James had his friends back. His friends got to see him run around in pink boxers. He was going to have another memory to add to the others of his seventh year, that was for sure once he saw what Alice had in store for him......

**OK!!!!! I posted! Yayyy! I really like this chapter. Well it was one of _my_ favorites to write. I don't feel I really get to make James miserable enough at some points.... He's always mean to the others, so taking the reviews into account. Also how they were all saying how James was being a mega-jerk and all, I decided it was payback time. I'm not that good at writing apologies, I know that now. Please forget the bad writing of that part, and instead look at the meaning of it. I know the writing part is bad, and sorry about that.**

**REVIEW to reassure me about my bad writing skills at apologies, or say something nice, warm, and fuzzy. It doesn't matter just REVIEW! Please and thank you. **

**Love your author,**

**Brittney/Siruis' Sweetheart**


	18. Pretty In Pink!

"You know mate, you look good in pink. It brings really out your eyes," Remus teased as James got ready for his big stunt. AKA: PEJIFOTWSRHPRAHAMTATTSYP (Plan Embarrass James In Front Of The Whole School Ruining His Popularity Records And Have Another Memory To Add To Their Seventh Year Plan.)

James just glared.

"Here come the girls," Sirius said cheerfully. "Hey hon." he said as he gave Lauren a short kiss.

"Hey," Lauren responded. "Are we ready for the prank?"

"Yes, lets just get it over with so that there isn't that many people in the Great Hall." James mumbled.

"Oh, I just thought of something," Morgan's face fell.

"What? We can't do the stunt?" James asked with false hope.

"No don't worry the stunt is still on," she reassured smugly. "It's just that the teachers will know who put him up to this. I mean it's sort of obvious he wouldn't do this of his own accord. Also, I think we should make it look like he's wearing his robes. Well at least to himself and the professors anyway," Morgan shrugged.

"Fine, put these charms on me fast. I want to get this over with. People will be starting to go into the Great Hall now."

"Pushy pushy. Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Kylie sang.

"You know, I think we should personalize his boxers," Alice said, speculating the plain, silky, hot pink boxers James was wearing.

"What!" James yelped. "No, no, no, no, no, no." he said now backing away from Alice's inspired mischievous smile.

"Yes, I think we'll have to." Alice said in mock regret.

All four of the girls took their wands out and started twirling them in an amused manner.

By now James had his legs crossed, and his hands attempting to cover the revealed parts of the silky boxers.

"Haha, you don't want to jinx me," James said meekly. "Do you?" he squeaked, overreacting quite theoretically.

"Oh James we would _never_ jinx you," Alice said with a roll of her eyes.

Frank snorted.

"What?" he asked innocently. "Oh come _on_ Alice. You would totally jinx him. Remember when he tapped you on the shoulder after DADA last year?" he asked with a roll of his own eyes emphasized with another snort... or three.

"Ok fine, _maybe_ we would jinx you," she admitted ruefully. "I promise though not today. Hexes at the most."

"Hexes!"

"Oh calm down, that's only if you need restrains or something. I mean or if the.... bystanders need restraints. One _might_ just _accidentally_ hit you in the shoulder." Logan chuckled, that earned him a slap on the back from Sirius. He seemed to be enjoying this more than anybody. Even Alice or Kylie.

James let relief flood through him.

"Oh the stories I'll be able to tell my godchildren," Sirius let out a barking laugh.

"Who says _you_ get to be the godfather?" Remus challenged.

"Who said anything about children?" James asked fearfully?

"Well he _obviously _likes me best," Sirius boasted, ignoring James' question.

"Yeah because he really loves flobberworms in his cereal,"

"It was funny!" he defended. "Lily sure got a kick out of it. She spit her own cereal out she was laughing so hard!"

"Erm, Sirius, I think that was because she thought you got her cereal too," Peter interrupted.

"Yeah," James grunted. "I'm surprised you didn't remember the part where she shoved it in my face first."

"Oh yeah!!!!!!!" Sirius recalled. "That _was_ the funniest part. I actually did put it in her cereal to see if she would blame you! And it worked!!" he let out another peal of barking laughter that rang through the whole Common Room waking everyone who wasn't already awake.

"We'll just charm you." Kylie said thoughtfully interrupting the playful banter.

"A lot." Lauren and Morgan agreed grinning wildly.

"Do your worst." he muttered.

* * *

"Madam Pomfrey!!!!!" Lily called impatiently.

"Yes dear?" she asked now bustling over to Lily's bedside.

"When can I leave," she whined.

"When I'm sure you have no further injuries," she snapped.

"I'm fine! Look!" she yelled showing her every part of exposed skin she could hold on to.

After a very thorough, and long, inspection Madam Pomfrey couldn't find the slightest bit of evidence Lily was in any immediate danger despite her determination.

"Well I guess you can go now," Madam Pomfrey gave in.

"Yessss." Lily said with a punch in the air.

Madam Pomfrey was heard shuffling back into her office muttering sourly something about over dramatic teenagers.

Lily practically skipped through the corridors leading to the Great Hall. Stopping only when she was near to colliding into somebody else.

Singing under her breath she entered the Great Hall, and her jaw dropped to the ground.

There stood James Potter in _silky, hot pink boxers! Her_ silky hot pink boxers! All over his chest were written words like "Sexy, I'm A Pretty Pony, I love flowers!, Does this look infected to you?, Girls have cooties, and You're just jealous," He seemed to be singing something to the crowd, and was dancing, in Lily's opinion, atrociously.

I'm too sexy for my love too sexy for my love  
Love's going to leave me

I'm too sexy for my shirt too sexy for my shirt  
So sexy it hurts  
And I'm too sexy for Milan too sexy for Milan  
New York and Japan

And I'm too sexy for your party  
Too sexy for your party  
No way I'm disco dancing

I'm a model you know what I mean  
And I do my little turn on the catwalk  
Yeah on the catwalk on the catwalk yeah  
I do my little turn on the catwalk

I'm too sexy for my car too sexy for my car  
Too sexy by far  
And I'm too sexy for my hat  
Too sexy for my hat what do you think about that

I'm a model you know what I mean  
And I do my little turn on the catwalk  
Yeah on the catwalk on the catwalk yeah  
I shake my little touche on the catwalk

I'm too sexy for my too sexy for my too sexy for my

'Cos I'm a model you know what I mean  
And I do my little turn on the catwalk  
Yeah on the catwalk on the catwalk yeah  
I shake my little touche on the catwalk

I'm too sexy for my cat too sexy for my cat  
Poor pussy poor pussy cat  
I'm too sexy for my love too sexy for my love  
Love's going to leave me

And I'm too sexy for this song

"I'm Too Sexy by: Right Said Fred"

"Oh. My. God," Lily breathed.

"Not again!!" she moaned.

She stomped up to the table, or tried to. James without a shirt...... Dizzying.

"What is he doing?" she asked Lauren forcefully.

"Lils, why do you seem so mad? What did he do this time?" she asked sympathetically, placing a soothing hand on her shoulder.

"THOSE ARE MY BOXERS!" she screamed.

At that precise moment James stopped singing. The only noise that could be heard was five hundred bodies turning towards her.

Panicking she hastily pulled out her wand and muttered a disillusion charm. It was a little to late for that though. Everybody had already seen her, and now they were laughing. Directly. At. Her.

Invisible Lily grabbed Lauren, Alice, and Sirius by the arm knowing they were the masterminds of the plan, then trudged over to where James was standing. She grabbed him by the elbow and pulled.

After they got back to the Common Room it was completely empty.

"Ok explain now," she ordered angrily.

"Explain what?" James asked. In response he got her signature "I-Hate-You-James-Potter-And-You're-The-World's-Biggest-Git" glare.

Lauren rolled her eyes playfully. "She wants to know why you're wearing her boxers," she explained. Sirius let out another barking laugh, followed by Alice's girlie giggle, and each tried to muffle it by stuffing their fists in each others mouth.

_"Your boxers_?_" _James inquired curiously.

"My girlie boxers," she explained vaguely.

"Girlie boxers?" he teased. Lily cocked an eyebrow in his direction trying to make him see the point.

An expression of understanding dawned on his face. " But, Kylie said that......." he trailed off.

"Kylie." he muttered darkly. He shot up out of his favorite arm chair by the fire like a bat out of hell, and sprinted back downstairs to the Great Hall. After James was clear out of sight, Lily cracked a mischievous grin of her own.

"Kylie Jessica Walker!!!!!!!!" James screamed to the hall not remembering he was still in boxers, and not caring. From the corner of his eye he saw Renee sitting next to Josh laughing along with some other friends at the Ravenclaw Table.

"What!?" she yelled back across the hall spraying Remus with chunks of toast, hitting him in the eye. "Oh I'm so sorry Remus!" she cried, trying to pick off stray pieces of toast in his hair.

"S'ok," he muttered shaking all of the stray bits of toast away with a flick of his sandy blond hair.

"Why did you tell me those boxers were mine charmed pink!?!?!"

"I don't know what your talking about," she said tilting her head to the left and cracking a grin.

"How could you give me _Lily's_ boxers!!!! Of all people! It just had to be Lily didn't it?"

"Aw come on man! You have to admit it was funny!" chided Logan.

"You shouldn't even be mad. You look good in pink," Peter tried. "All the girls were staring." He said in a sing song voice.

"They were?" He asked an air of superiority barely scraping the surface of his words.

"Yeah, totally." Frank added catching onto his weakness.

"I mean you have great abs." Morgan admitted blushing a deep pink. "And pecs."

"All those other 'ceps' too I guess." she added.

"I do don't I?"

"Yeah." Everyone chimed looking at each other like 'He really does have a big ego'.

"Remus? Why haven't you said anything about my amazing body?" James teased.

"Oh I'm sorry oh mighty James. I should have known you would have wanted to know that you had girlie phrases written all over yourself in pink, flashing, fluff." he said with a roll of his eyes.

"Fluff?" he cried incredulously earning a few blank stares from people close enough to eavesdrop on the conversation. Seeing who it was they just turned away snickering.

"It's pink!" Kylie quipped, clearly enjoying his tortured expression.

"Pink fluff?" he squeaked.

"Yep!" she said cheerfully.

"I don't know whose worse. You or Alice."

"Ooohhh that's a tough one." she agreed.

"I'd say," he muttered. "First you make me run around the Great Hall singing I'm A Pretty Pony. Then you had to go the extra mile and add on I'm Too Sexy. Worse of all I was dancing around in Lily's 'girly boxers' with pink, flashing, fluff all over me. I don't know which was the worst."

"Did you say 'girly boxers'?" Remus asked, about just as amused as Kylie and Morgan.

"Yeah, he did." Morgan taunted.

"What are girlie boxers?" Peter asked obliviously.

Frank and Logan both whispered it into his ear at the same time. With each word his face grew more and more to the point of revulsion.

He let out a forced laugh, a cheesy smile and excused himself muttering something about a bathroom.

Next to his empty seat Frank and Logan were left guffawing like idiots leaning on each other for support.

"What did you tell the poor boy?" Morgan asked.

"Stuff," they said simultaneously.

This earned them both a thumbs of from Remus and Kylie, and a smack in the chest from Morgan. As soon as Remus saw Morgan smack them he put his thumb down and gave them a smack over the head of his own.

"I guess we should go find Pete. We don't want him to get lost. Again," James said, somehow forgeting about his pink boxers and fluff, yet again.

"Yeah, remember the one time he went into the girls bathroom." Remus asked cracking up with laughter.

_"I_ remember that one._" _Morgan growled.

"Oh right _you_ were the girl he walked in on!" Frank chuckled.

"That was me all right. I bet he had a bbbbiiiggg bruise. I kick very hard if I do say so myself." Morgan said smugly.

"Let's go before _they_ get a kick out of this." Kylie snickered leaving her chewed toast and now rubbery eggs behind, dragging Morgan along while she attempted to get one more bite of pancake before the fork clattered to the table.

Right when they walked out of the Great Hall they heard a nauseated moan coming from the left. The girls bathroom.

"Peter." they said in unison giving eachother discusted looks. They plugged their nose and went for it.

**A/N: Ok now.**


	19. Nightmares Run Loose

_An ear shattering bang erupted from the hall next to me_

_"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!"_

_A bone chilling, merciless, laugh cut through the air like sharp knives on a cold day. A ivory white hand slowly retracted from the robes holding a wand. Aiming it at me._

_"Avada Kedavra!"_

_Everything went black._

In a second James was sitting upright screaming bloody murder. Thank goodness he had a silencing charm around his bed. Eyes darting around the room he swiftly pulled the covers off his four poster, slipped on a robe, and went to the bathroom to splash some wet water on his face. He was drenched in sweat from head to toe. He shook his head like Sirius would and a spray of fresh sweat came spiraling off his hair across the mirror and walls of the dimly lit bathroom.

The cold water was like an electric shock through his body awakening his senses --if only he knew what electricity was--. He dabbed his face with a towel and decided he would go down to the common room and read _Transfiguration Weekly_.

He walked down the stairs, the sound of his feet were muffled by the slippers and extra plush carpet. He got down into the common room and went to sit in his favorite armchair that he had carved his name into fourth year.

He had gotten all comfortable laying sideways in the chair skimming the articles when he heard a soft gasp. He arched his back, and tilted him head upside down so he could get a better look at who had made the noise. It was obviously a girl since she was standing in the girl's staircase, but who was it.

She started walking slowly down seeing that he was awake and reading. The light of the fire danced across her pale skin, and sparkled against her flaming hair making it look like her hair too was part of the fire.

"James," she whispered. His body froze. He knew that voice. It was Lily. The same Lily from his dream. This frightened him. A lot. _Why was Lily at his house in the dream? Who was Harry? Were they married? Were Lily and Harry married? Was Harry their son? ,_and most of all, _Why had Voldemort killed _him_? Why-----_

"James?" Lily whispered again interrupting his train of thought.

"Yeah," he choked out.

"Are you _crying_?" she giggled.

"Why is that funny?" he asked coldly.

"Oh it's not," surprised by the intensity of his voice she took a step back. "It's just I've never seen you cry."

"Well it's not something I normally show to the public." voice softening considerably.

He straightened up in his chair and motioned Lily to come sit on his lap.

Hesitantly Lily complied. "Why were you crying?" she asked softly, squirming into a comfortable position in James' warm arms.

"Bad dream," closing his eyes trying to wash out fresh memory of the dream out of his mind.

"Bad dream?" she asked slowly.

"Yeah, why?"

"It's just because," she hesitated, "I've been having weird dreams as well. Nightmares even."

_"Nightmares_?" he asked perplexed that they were both having nightmares.

"Yeah," she swallowed. "Nightmares of me _dying_." she said letting a soft sob out.

"Don't cry Lily! Please don't cry. Your ok, your safe. I'm here Lily." he said softly whispering into her ear trying to ease the shaky sobs.

"I'm sorry,"

"Don't be sorry! Just be Lily. Just be Lily." she continued to sob while James' arms slowly went up and down her back trying to sooth her.

Five minutes later the sobbing subsided into deep breaths.

"Sorry about that. I'm not normally the one to cry over a nightmare."

"Me either. Me either."

"Do you mind if I _tell_ you about my dream?" blinking up through her wet lashes, her eyes pleaded for confidence.

"Only if I can tell you about mine."

"Me first."

~_Flashback~ Lily's Point Of View~ (she's also telling the story to James as well)_

_I was in this cozy little cottage. Laughing along with this man. He had short black hair, as well as the baby. The baby was about one, and he was riding around on a toy broom. He was chasing the cat around in circles. _-She let out a short laugh-_ Then the door just blew open._

_T__he man yelled _"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!"

_I heard a mirthless cold laugh coming from the doorway._"Advada Kedavra!" _The voice yelled. I__The green light filled the cramped hallway, it lit the pram pushed against the wall, it made the banisters flare like lightning rods, and the man fell like a marionette whose strings were cut.... I felt my heart tear into two. Whoever this man was, I must have loved him more than anything. Even my own life. He had just sacrificed his own life, for mine and who I assumed to be my son. Harry._

_I was just up the staris. I was screaming. I was trapped. The one who had broke the door open was opening the door to my hiding spot. Moving all the chairs and boxes I had hastily piled up to try and keep him at bay with a lazy wave of his wand. I dropped 'Harry' into the crib behind me and threw my arms wide, trying to shield my son. Anything for my son._

_"Not Harry, not harry, please not Harry!" I pleaded helplessly._

_"Stand aside, you silly girl... stand aside now." _

_I saw the face under the hooded cloak and let out another terrified scream. _Voldemort_. Suddenly I feared more than my son's life, but my own as well. _

_"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead---"_

_"This is my last warning--"_

_"Not Harry! Please ... have mercy ... have mercy.... Not Harry! Not Harry! Please -- I'll do anything--"_

_"Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!"_

_~End Flashback~ Third Person Point of View~_

"A green light engulfed me, and I could tell I was dead.... But I could still see.....

"I watched as Harry looked at Voldemort curiously. Not frightened just curious. I could tell he had no idea either of his parents were dead. He probably thought it was his father who hid beneath the cloak.

"I watched as Voldemort raised his wand to the boy. Then everything went black and I can't remember anything."

James just sat there stunned into silence. He realized he was crying again.

"James," she whispered yet again.

"Lily that was.... That was, wow."

"Scary isn't it? Seeing your own death?"

"It's just that. I had almost that same dream tonight." he marveled.

Lily turned in his arms to see his face. "The same dream?" she asked looking in his eyes to see some sort of deceit.

"Well not really," he said his voice getting panicky. One nightmare was ok, but when somebody you knew had that _same_ nightmare. That was just impossible to ignore.

"How so?"

"Well it started out the same," determinedly looking away from her eyes. "It was just much shorter. I remember me saying _'Take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!',_" Purposely leaving out that he said to Lily _'Take Harry and go!'_. It made it too real.

"And then I died. Or everything went black at least, then I woke up."

Lily forcefully turned his face to look towards hers.

"Why won't you look at me?"

"Because Lily, I'm afraid."

"Afraid of what? Voldemort can't touch us here with Dumbledore. I mean it's Hogwarts for crying out loud! We're safe."

"Afraid of what these dreams could mean for us. I mean it's not just a coincidence that we see our own deaths on the same night. More or less in the same scenario. Do you see what this means?"

Lily froze looking for the implication behind his words.

"Are you asking me to marry you!" she harshly whispered.

"What? No! No, I'm saying that---"

"What are you saying James, because right now I feel the need to slap you."

"I'm trying to say that...... We're going to die. Maybe not now. Maybe not in a year. Maybe not five years. But we will be _murdered_. Now I'm not trying to scare you or anything but, Harry he is one of our's child. I don't know if he's both of ours or just mine. Maybe just yours. All I'm saying is that Voldemort _will _be looking to kill us. He already wants to kill me because I'm some 'blood traitor', and he wants to kill you because you're one of the most powerful Muggleborns that he's seen in ages.

"It's just that, I'm afraid to die." he whispered.

By now Lily had caught on that this wasn't a marriage proposal. She could never be sure with James though. It's not like he never tried that before. Actually he's tried it 137 times before.....

"It's ok to be afraid. Right now I'm terrified about what this could mean. All I know is that... That----" she choked.

"I love you." They whispered at the same time.

As they leaned in to kiss James stopped her.

"Lily?"

"What?" she breathed.

"I can't do this."

"Can't do what?"

"This! You have a boyfriend, do you not?"

Lily cringed. That was right. She _did_ have a boyfriend. _Oh well, it's not like he's _know_ anything about it anyways. _

She still advanced on James.

"Lily," he said warningly. She snapped out of her reverie and blushed. Blushed like he'd never seen her blush. She awkwardly got up of James' lap and darted up the stairs.

James chuckled. '_Well this is going to be awkward'_ He thought.

* * *

A week had past since Alice and Kylie's little _stunt, _as they like to call it. People were still giving cat calls to him whenever he walked through the hallway. At first he welcomed them and constantly bowed. Then his back started to hurt so he had to stop that. His teachers were still oblivious to all of this, and sometimes James just wished they would give him a detention or something. Anything to get out of patrols with Lily. They were always so awkward and spent in silence. Especially when they had to break up kissing couples. That had to be the weirdest......

Josh still came over to the Gryffindor Table every mealtime. He still hated James, regardless of what Lily told him. This didn't even phase James' mood. He was happy when he was with his friends. Happier than he had been in a long time. Sirius, Remus, and Peter had gone onto the 'Hating Josh' phase as soon as James was back. James thought they were just being good friends and pretending to hate Josh for his sake, then one day Josh had him cornered.

"Hey James,"

"Hey Davies," he said suspiciously. "What's this about. You hate me remember?"

"Oh James! I could never hate you. Your the most popular guy in school. Most kids _idolize you_! Man _I_ idolize you."

James couldn't repress a snort. "Yeah, and I'm the Tooth Fairy," he said sarcastically.

"No seriously man, your a legend on the pitch! Do you think you could give me a few pointers?"

_Wow this guy must be an idiot. I wonder how Lily can stand to have a conversation with him. I mean how thick could he get. _

"No." he simply stated and started walking to Transfiguration.

"Aw come on!"

"Nope, sorry. I would but----"

James and Josh just walked in silence for a few minutes. James thinking about Josh's stupidity, and Lily's patience for the guy. While Josh was trying to think up another way to get James to crack.

When they were about to the others Josh stupidly asked another question.

"Come on James! Why not? I mean what's the worst that could happen? You guys lose a game. Not the end of the world. I mean we lose all the time. I'm still standing aren't I?"

James rolled his eyes. Like that would be able to crack him. This guys knew _nothing_ about kissing up.

"No Josh. For the last time. I _will not _point shave for you." he said a little louder than necessary.

He was lucky enough for his friends to hear the last line. James snickered then walked over to Sirius.

Lily walked over to Josh, shoulders squared, mouth pressed into a thin line, and face furious.

Lily was _a very_proud Quiddich fan. She took pride in her team, and often was the reason why many were sitting in detention during a game. Though she never took out the players, she always reserved a nice spot for them in Filch's office after the game. She was known to, erm, over-exaggerate when it came to Quidditch.

"Josh," she said sternly.

"Yes sweetie," he called.

"Oh stop being such a suck up. How could you ask something like that of James? Of any Quidditch player for that matter?"

"Oh come on Lily! We're in last place this year! Behind Hufflepuff!" he whined.

"And what's that supposed to mean? Behind Hufflepuff? They're not stupid you know."

"Well-- you know---" he stuttered.

"No I don't know, please enlighten us all." she said acidly.

"Erm, well-- you see-- they're _Hufflepuffs_!!!"

She waited impatiently tapping her foot.

"Renee never gives me this much trouble," he mumbled almost incoherently.

"What does Renee have to do with the Hufflepuffs?"

"Nothing," he muttered.

"Then what did you say about her?"

"That she never gives me trouble when I talk about Quidditch."

"Why should she?"

"No reason."

"No Josh, everything happens for a reason. What's this reason, is the question I'm asking you."

"You know if you don't answer me right now, we're through." she threatened.

"She's my other girlfriend." he confessed loudly enough for everyone to hear this time.

"I figured that much," Lily shrugged, barely phased by the confession, "How long?"

"Since the night I asked you out."

"The whole time?" Lily asked softly. "You were cheating on me the whole time! When she was already _taken_?!? Do you even remember that night at all?" her anger changing into something much deeper than Quiddtich.

"Yeah," he said softly. "I'm sorry Lily." he said trying to take her hand.

She yanked her hand out of his and stormed away.

"You disgust me," Lauren spat and ran after Lily.

Alice stomped up to him and gave him a nice hard punch in the face. She heard the distinct _crack,_ and was him stagger back from the force of the punch, smiled and skipped back to Frank, clearly satisfied with her punch.

* * *

You could hear Lily's footsteps echoing against the marble flooring, Lauren's not far behind. Lily ran, ran, and ran until she was out of breath. She skidded to a halt on the 6th floor. Lauren would have ran into her, if Lily hadn't moved to the side.

"Oh Lils! I'm _so_ sorry!"

"It's not your fault Lor,"

"I'm such a horrible best friend!" she ranted.

"No your not."

"Yes I am! I should have known he would cheat on you. I mean that's what best friend's are for! They're supposed to be the one who beats up the ex! Alice already broke his nose, so I can't do any _physical_ harm to him. It would be to cliche." she decided.

"Really Lor---"

"Oh, I could still hurt Renee. I wonder if I could get a muggle baseball bat by owl."

"Lauren! You are _not_ going to attack Renee with a baseball bat! It's not your fault that he cheated on me either. He said it was from the start. There wasn't anything you could do about it."

"Well, if your going to ruin all the fun---- Let's just skip class and go to the kitchens?"

"Sure," Lily sniffled.

"I want some double chocolate chip chocolate cake." Lily declared.

"Don't worry. We'll have the elves put some extra chocolate chips on it."

"Sounds good to me."

"Let's skip," Lauren said randomly.

"What are you--- aahh!" Lily yelled as she started to get dragged by the arm by a skipping Lauren.

"I warned you." she taunted.

"Not soon enough." Lily grumbled.

"The elves are waiting." Lauren sang.

Lily sped up her own skip now dragging Lauren along with her as soon as she finished her sentence.

"Haha, sucker. Come on slow poke."

**A/N: Ok, I know it's been like a WHOLE WEEK since I've posted!!!!!!!!! I'm sorry! I should post more often........ Then again I only post if you REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!! So please review! I _NEED_ 10 REVIEWS AT THE LEAST FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! **

**Love you all lots! (If you review that is),**

**Brittney/Sirius' Sweetheart**


	20. Instant Messaging Parchment!

**~A/N: OK Again really, really, really, really sorry for the delay. I don't know what's gotten into me. I blame, again, my science teacher Miss Sadler. I just can't believe she made us do a SCIENCE FAIR PROJECT! Only the eighth grade gifted class too! Which just seems to be cheesetaco (ILY BUDDY) and my class. I know it's outrageous. I really don't think that she likes us. At all. She's a really weird bugger. Did I mention I don't think that she likes us??? Well with out further ado I present you with!!!!!!!! The next chapter!!!!!!! YAYYYYYY~**

"Where's Lily?" Peter asked Lauren one particularly cold, rainy November day.

Lauren looked him straight in the eye and simply said, "Sleeping. Where are the others?"

"Oh, come on," Peter said rolling his eyes, obviously amused, "Lily hasn't been to breakfast later than seven in seven years! Well minus the day she never came at all 'cuz she was sick, but that doesn't even count. Well that's not including the time she was in the Hospital Wing either. It was the day James was running around in her boxers." he said thoughtfully disregarding her questions about the other seventh year boys.

"No she's really sleeping," Lauren said after a minute of thinking, "and how did you remember that Lily's only been gone one day?"

"How could you forget that day? It was legendary!"

"What little miss perfect prefect missed a day of school? She's not that perfect 'ya know. She has a rebellious streak. Remember how she was good friends with Snape?"

Peter shuddered. He couldn't understand how somebody could be friends with the greasy, little, git. Well that's what Frank, Logan, Remus, Sirius, and James told him. They were his friends, and if all of them thought Snape was a git, he must be.

"I can't believe you don't remember that day, though. That was the day that James went to the bottom of the tower and serenaded Lily amplifying his voice, for the whole tower to hear. Then she dropped something heavy on his head." Peter exclaimed.

"Oh! Yeah, yeah, yeah it was a Transfiguration and Divination book tied together wasn't it?" Lauren inquired.

"Haha, yeah James took divination too. He should've seen that coming." Peter chuckled, Lauren's little giggle chiming in.

"So when do you think it'll start to snow?" Lauren asked excitedly. Winter was her favorite time of year. When she was little she was never allowed out in the snow because, "It will get your clothes all wet, and ruined! That's _not what_any daughter of mine will be looking like." according to Mrs. Lestrange. Her younger twin brother _Rodolphus_ always got to play in the snow though. "Boys will be boys." was another one of her favorite sayings.

"Well....... Probably the first Thursday of December," he said thoughtfully, making little air-tallies with his pudgy little fingers.

"You've got that down to a science don't you? I bet you a galleon it doesn't snow that Thursday." Lauren teased in a business woman like tone.

"Your loss."

"You Marauders, what am I going to do with you?" Lauren just shook her head and took another sip of Pumpkin Juice.

"You know you love us,"

"Well......" she drawled.

"Hey, you can't deny the fact that we're all good looking." Peter himself wasn't incredibly handsome, but he wasn't ugly either. He was the same weight as Sirius, James, and Remus though their extra weight was muscle. They always joked that Peter's was baby fat. His blue eyes did look kinda water and his nose a little pointed, but it wasn't really that bad. He was just the average blue eyed, brown haired guy. Nothing incredibly special.

"Fine you caught me. So how's your love life?"

"Oh you know, just like any other single bloke's." he said nonchalantly.

"Well we're going to get you a girl friend." she said standing up peering over the heads of her peers.

"What?!"

"I said we are going to get you a girlfriend. Ok take your pick. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff." she said simply.

"Erm, Lauren you really don't have to do this,"

"Oh sod off, are you saying you _don't_ want a girlfriend?"

"Er, no."

"Ok then, I told you choose." she demanded.

"Hufflepuff, I don't want to look stupid in front of a Ravenclaw, and the Hufflepuffs are nice enough. And Sirius has dated most of the Gryffindor girls, so that would just be weird."

"Year?"

"Erm, it doesn't matter sixth or seventh."

"Do you want nice, or wild."

"Doesn't matter."

"Monica Goldman seventh year Hufflepuff. She has soft brown curls, and hazel eyes. She's a straight E student. Her favorite subject is Transfiguration, and she likes to read."

"How do you know all of that? You just looked at her and knew all of this?"

"It's not that hard. She's in my Charms class. She's Lily's partner most of the time." Lauren shrugged, "Oh and she's reading a Transfiguration textbook and McGonnagall hasn't assigned us homework this time, miraculously. I'll got get her." Lauren said standing up not listening to Peter's feeble protest of how he didn't know how to talk to girls.

Five minutes later Lauren walked out of there with a proud smirk on her face. Not before she went over to the Slytherin table and ruffled her little brother's hair, purposefully doing it in front of all of his friends. If he was going to be an arse to her all the time at home, he was going to get some embarrassment from her at school.

Seeing as it was only seven thirty AM Lauren decided she was bored. Hooking Peter up had been fun, but now she didn't have anybody to talk to. What to do. What to do.

The light bulb suddenly lit up above her head. Well she charmed it to, but that's beside the point.

She had an idea. It's not like she _meant _to scare her friends half to death. It just looked that way.

She loosely tied herself up, conjured up some fake blood, and wounds (the stick on kind), and made some bloody footprints walking out the door. Then she put a silencing charm on the door so no professor would come up and inspect.

She shrieked. The shrillest shriek she could manage before her voice cracked. A fake terrified look plagued her beautiful face, as her roommates literally rolled out of their four posters. Not without adding four more shrieks to the ear splitting scream.

Now in on the tangled of limbs, pillows, and warm comforters Lauren was smiling broadly. Mission: Scream Until They Scare Themselves Silly is COMPLETE.

"WHAT IN THE BLOODY NAME OF _MERLIN_ WAS THAT FOR?" Morgan vociferated.

"No reason." Lauren shrugged.

"You tied yourself up, made fake wounds, and footprints out the door for no reason?!?!?!"

Now inspecting her fingernails Lauren responded from her position on the floor, "Uh huh."

Not knowing how to respond the girls just grumbled and started picking up sheets and such.

Still incredibly mad about the whole waking up before the alarm even went of thing, she decided to take action. She took her goose down pillow and chucked it at Lauren's butt as she was picking up the bloody rope.

"Did you just hit me in the butt with a pillow?" Lauren asked slowly in mock-threatening voice.

"Maybe," Morgan responded in a slightly sing-song voice.

Lauren threw one back with a war cry. "ATTACK!!!!!!" she screamed, while hitting Morgan straight in the face causing little feathers fly out everywhere.

Soon enough Lily, Alice, and Kylie joined in. They summoned more pillows, and it was like a snow ball fight with pillows. They used the beds as forts, the pillows as snowballs, and their wands to conjure up more pillows. There was screams of laughter, mock terror, and just fun ringing throughout the air.

They divided up into teams subconsciously as the minutes wore on. There was Lily, Lauren, and Alice against Morgan and Kylie. The teams were matched in skill, but Lily's team ended up winning it after she started to set out 50 pillows at a time, hurdling towards Morgan and Kylie.

By the end the _whole dorm was_ covered in a two foot deep pile of goose feathers. It looked like Christmas had come and left the snow. The only difference was there weren't any presents, trees, holiday carols, or real snow.

"That was fun," Alice exclaimed happily. "We should have a sleepover!"

"If you haven't noticed, for the past seven years we've all slept here." Kylie said jokingly.

"Oh you know what I mean. Snacks from the kitchens, Truth-and-Dare, make overs, staying up late, the works."

"Oh Alice! That's a great idea! I just have to do patrols until midnight." Lily grumbled.

"Don't you think you should just you know resign from Head Girl?"

"No!" Lily screamed jumping up on her bed clutching the area over her heart where her badge normally was.

"AH! Where's my badge!"

"I need to find it! McGonagall will kill me if I don't find it," she paused and then said, "I will kill me if I can't find it!"

"Erm, Lily,"

Ignoring the constant calls from her friends she continued searching _through _all the feathers in the room.

"LILY!" they all yelled in unison.

"What? This better be important. I have a badge to look for you know" she said in an exasperated manner.

"Well miss pushy pants," Kylie taunted, "we just wanted to tell you that you're in your pajamas and you keep your badge in your trunk at night."

Flushing a deep red she walked over to her trunk and opened the latch. Gleaming back up at her sat her Head Girl badge as if it were mocking her stupidity. "Oh," she said softly.

Everybody else laughed for a good 5 minutes before they finally settled down and began to banish the feathers.

By now it was 8 'o clock and they were ready for breakfast.

They grabbed their book bags and trudged down the girl's staircase starting the long walk down to the Great Hall.

The other Marauders too thought that it would snow on the first Thursday of December. Kinda weird that they all knew that, and Peter wasn't even there. Alice and Kylie went over to sit with Logan and Frank while Lily, Morgan, and Lauren went over to sit with the Marauders.

"Hey guys, where's Pete?" James asked, noticing one of his best friend's absences.

"Probably snogging-" Lauren started.

"Yeah right, Wormtail hasn't had a girl in over year." Sirius snorted.

"No really, he's going out with-"

"No seriously hon, he doesn't have a girlfriend." he said cutting her off yet again.

Lauren huffed, "For your information. I got him a date with Monica Goldman." she said smugly.

"So ha,"

"The seventh year Hufflepuff that's Lily's Charms partner?" James asked.

"The very same." she responded.

"She's hot." Sirius said approvingly earning a hard smack in the chest from Lauren.

"Ow! You _know_ I have a tender chest."

"Yup, that's why I hit you."

"What did I do!?!?"

"You said that Monica Goldman was hot." she said simply.

"So she is!" he said spraying James with a mouthful of eggs with syrup.

"Gross Padfoot. Hey! It landed in my robe pocket!" James said grinning.

"I don't think you're supposed to say another girl looks hot in front of your girl friend." Lily said knowingly.

"How was I supposed to know?"

"Your girlfriend is sitting right there Padfoot, do you really think she wants to hear you say Lily's Charms partner looks hot?"

"You want me to _lie_ to my girlfriend." he asked in mock-shock.

"Yeah, pretty much." Lily reassured.

"That would be unethical," Sirius said putting a hand over his heart, "I would have thought the Head Boy & Girl cared about ethics."

"Nope," they said together.

"See, your all on your own. They like me better." Lauren bragged.

"DO NOT!" he said childishly while Lauren started to sing,

_"They like me better, they like me better."_

"You like me better right Prongs?"

"Prongs? Hello? Prongsie? You like me better right?"

"Sorry Padfoot. You snore." James said simply causing Lily and Lauren to erupt in a goad of giggles.

"Do not." he grumbled.

"Do too; you should see all the grooves in the headboard from the vibrations."

"Shut up Potter," he said shoving James into Lily.

"Hm. I wonder why Moony hasn't joined the conversation. He usually has great advice on girls.

"Is that why I ended up hating you for six years?" Lily asked sarcastically.

"Yup, he was always the one that said 'Lay of Prongs, she hates you,' but he never once thought to use reverse psychology. So yeah, I would say it's all his fault." he shrugged.

Lily snorted. "He's talking to Morgan."

"Ahhh, that explains it. Well not for much longer. Oy! Moony! Stop looking at Monroe with googly eyes! You never look at _me _like that." Sirius teased.

At Sirius' outburst both Morgan and Remus turned a deep, beet red and joined in with another random topic about 'cheese'.

* * *

**After Breakfast, Transfiguration**

"Today we will be starting on Animagi," McGonnagall said, briskly changing herself in to a tabby cat and back again.

James, Siruis, and Peter exchanged sly looks and pretended to pay attention.

As McGonnagall dove into another lecture Lily got out her Quick-Quotes-Quill that she charmed to take notes according to the speaker's exact words.

She also got out her IMP (Instant Messaging Parchment) and gave one to James and Sirius as well as the special quills. She had the Pink Quill, James got the Red Quill, and Sirius the Blue.

Lily: It's Instant Messaging Parchment

James: Really!?!?! I've always wanted to try this stuff. They don't have it at Zonko's though.

Lily: What you don't buy anything unless it's in Zonkos?

Sirius: Nope! What else is there to buy?

Lily: . . . . .

Sirius: Exactly

James: I'm suprised at you Lily! You aren't taking notes! It's a crime.

Lily: Oh bugger. I just have to rewrite everything that my Quick-Quotes-Quill _already wrote for me!_ I mean really, this stuff is _so_ boring.

James & Sirius: BORING!?!?

Lily: What I mean is, I already know this. *rolls eyes* I've read _a lot_ of books on Transfig.

James: You hate Transfiguration Lily, why should I beleive that you've read all these books about it?

Lily: Well, I just suck at it, so I don't like it. Reading on the other hand I'm good at.

James: Well that's logic I guess.

Lily: Yep. So what are you doing for Hogsmeade since you don't have a date?

James: Are you asking me to Hogsmeade Lily?

Lily: Oh! No, I'm not. Just wondering. *blushes fiercely*

Sirius: You know Evans, you really should think before you write *snorts*

Lily: Sod off Black

Sirius: No, sorry not gonna happen. You're the one who gave me the quill.

Lily: And now I'm gonna take it back.

"Evans!" the professor barked.

Straightening in her chair with the Pink & Blue Quills in hand, she answered politely. "Yes Ma'am?"

"What was I last saying?"

"Erm. Evans? What was I last saying?" she tried.

"Detention Evans!" she barked while James and Sirius could be seen snickering behind her.

"You too Potter and Black!"

"We didn't even do anything!?!"

"It's precaution." she smiled a rare smile.

Lily: LOOK WHAT YOU DID YOU GITS!

James: _I_ didn't do anything. I wasn't the one groping around trying to get a IMP Quill from Sirius. He says hi by the way.

Lily: Well tell him that I don't say hi back, and it's ALL his fault!

James: He asks what's his fault.

Lily: *glares* Well that's hard! Maybe it's the fact that's I have detetion. Then again maybe it's the fact that I'm wearing lacey underwear *rolls eyes*

James: Your wearing lacey underwear?

Lily: No! I was being sarcastic. *rolls eyes*

James: Sirius says that it's a shame, and that you roll your eyes to much.

Lily: *smirks* dont' let Lor hear him say that.

Sirius: Heyy Lily!

James: Sorry about that, he stole the quill from me.

Lily: S'ok. Well I'm going to doodle. Toodles!

Sirius: Bye Lileeeeee!!!!

* * *

"Hey Lil'," Lauren said as they were walking to Herbology from History Of Magic.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Oh nothing much. Just wondering why you _attacked_ my boyfriend during Transfuguration?"

"I didn't attack him," she said sheepishly, "I just lunged at him."

"Oh yeah, and there's so much of a difference." Lauren said sarcastically.

"Well he had my quill!" she whined.

"It's just a quill Lil'. Instead of just waiting after class to take it from him you had to do it when McGonnagall was telling us how _mature_ you had to be to become an animagus. Perfect timing."

"Well it's not just a quill as you so claim. It was my Blue IMP quill!"

"You let my boyfriend use you Blue IMP quill?" she asked in astonisment.

"Well I was bored and not paying attention. James and Sirius were bored and not paying attention. It just worked out that way."

"Speaking of boyfriends. There's your little ex-cheater." she said pointing over to Greenhouse five.

"Speak of the devil." Lily sighed.

"Come on let's get this over with. I'll sit with you James and Sirius today, again."

"Hey Lily," Josh greeted.

"Davies," she nodded.

"Lily, I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry and I shouldn't have treated you like that. Please take me back." he pleaded now down on his knees.

"Oh Josh of course I'll take you back!"

"Really?" he asked in astonishment suprised by the fact Lily took him back so easily. Normally she was as stubborn as a mule.

"No," she snorted, "I'm not an idiot Davies. Now if you don't mind your blocking the door to the Greenhouse."

In defeat he sighed and turned away and went to hold hands with Renee.

"The bastard! He asks for you to blindly take him back, then he goes and holds hands with his girlfriend!" she practiacally cried in outrage.

"Drop it Lor. We're not going to the Owlry after class unless it doesn't involve sending for Muggle baseball bats."

"Extra heavy bludgers?"

"No,"

"Couches?"

"No."

"A box welding material?"

"No."

"Crackers?"

"No. Wait why would you want crackers? We have some in the kitchens."

"Well these are magical crackers. When you throw them at people heavy objects hit them instead, and the cracker comes back to you."

"Oh, well then sure we can order the crackers."

"Really?" Lauren asked excitedly.

"No."

"Well aren't you miss Negative Nancy today."

Silencing her with a glare, Lily started doing her Transfiguration essay before class started.

* * *

**Another A/N: Well that's a wrap! I would like to mention my special reviewers from last chapter: Ridingstar95, FaithfulHPReader, FishPonysRock, Gin M. Weasley, appleeater123, cookiedoughYUM, cheesetaco, lilazngrl213, Scarlett, and anna. Thank you ALL for reviewing! As you know it makes me VERY VERY VERY happy! If you don't have a fan fiction account you can still REIVEW! I accept anonymus! Really I love them just as much. I'll even mention you in the next chatper! Then you'll be FAMOUS!!!!!!!!!!!! You know you want to be famous! You get to meet cool people! hehe. Well my general message here is PLEASE REVIEW! It just takes like 30 seconds. I mean it, those seconds of your life will NOT be wasted. I give you a Marauder's Promise. :]**

**All my Love!**

**Brittney/Sirius' Sweetheart**

**PS: You get more love if you review! -ssshhh it's a secret!-**


	21. Detention!

**A/N: Ok despite my lack of reviews, I have decided I'm going to post anyways because I'm bored and I want to. Haha, well that's not a good excuse but I'm going to use it anyways. This time I'm Sirius, I want 10 reviews before I post again. I mean you get to be famous!!!!! So thank you cheesetaco, appleeater123, and Ridingstar95. I love you guys! I'm going to dedicate this chapter to you guys. YOU'RE ABSO-BLOODY-LUTELY AMAZING!!!!!**

"Miss Evans, Mister Potter, Mister Black welcome to detention glad you could make it." McGonnagall said briskly.

"Hey Minnie," said somebody who was a little to eager to go to detention.

"Hello professor." Lily greeted.

"Mister Black I would like you to go down to Hagrid's. He needs assistance collecting things in the Forbidden Forest."

Sirius saluted her, said, "Yes ma'am," and sauntered out of the room knowing he and Hagrid would just sit around in the hut drinking a cup of tea.

"Miss Evans, Mister Potter you get to clean the lavatories on the third floor Charms corridor. Without magic. Would you please hand me your wands?"

Reluctantly Lily and James gave their professor their wands. "Come to my office when you're completely done." she sternly said, and walked away leaving the two in the empty classroom with a refilling bucket of soapy water, and two sponges.

"Well we better get started. It's eight and we have patrol in two hours." Lily grumbled.

"No we don't. When we get detention we don't have to patrol. Well since this is a long detention at least." James said motioning for her to grab the sponges as he got the heavy bucket.

"Oh," she simply said.

James started to pull an old mirror out of his robe pocket.

"James why in the world are you taking out a mirror? I thought you got past that whole egotistical stage." Lily said jokingly. Unbeknown to Lily, James was hurt more than he should have been by her little jab. He just ignored her and said, "Sirius Black," into the mirror.

Sirius' head popped into view from the mirror.

"Hey Prongs. Is Evans with you? I could tell you just couldn't wait until I left. Then you'd be alone with your ickle-Lily Flower."

"Shut up Padfoot and yes she is with me."

"Ooohhh, so _it_ is your darling Lily Flower who's keeping you from talking to me."

"Sod off Padfoot. I'm talking to you right now,"

"Lily and James sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby sitting in a baby carriage."

He was about to repeat the verse when James started hurriedly stuffing the mirror back into his pocket muffling the sound, knowing Sirius it would start out with a nursery rhyme and end in some way showing profanity. He turned to Lily who was trying to keep from laughing at Sirius' antics.

"Sorry 'bout that. Detention makes him giddy."

"I would imagine so; it's like a second home to you guys. Well Sirius anyways."

"Yep, you're catching onto the tradition too."

"Tradition?"

"Yeah, well every last Wednesday of every month McGonnagall gives up detention."

"Oh doesn't that make me feel honored." she said sarcastically.

"It should. We're here by the way. I just cleaned these two weeks ago-"

"Well if we don't talk this will get done faster. Hand me a sponge."

Sighing lightly James handed her a sponge and they got to work.

And hour later barely anything was done and Lily and James were glaring daggers at each other. Apparently James wanted her to do the floor and he'd do the stalls. Lily wasn't going for that though. She didn't want to just do the easy part just because she was a girl. Even though James was just being chivalrous.

They ended up fighting for who got to clean the stalls. Not just like playful banter, or teasing, but wrestling. James of course was going easy on Lily. Lily knew this, so she wasn't exerting all her effort either. From a bystander's point of view if they saw it as wrestling they would have seen it as pathetic. The thing was, it didn't look like wrestling. At least to the two, first year girls that walked in.

"Erm, excuse me?" one of the girls piped up.

Lily and James took a short break from their wrestling match to see the two girls standing there with wide eyes.

Attempting to stand up and brush her robe off Lily responded in a stern tone, "Yes?"

"Well we just wanted to use the bathroom and you were kinda in our way," the other girl said nervously.

"Well it's nine o' clock and first year curfew is at seven. So you're out of bed two hours late and your four floors away from your common room." James said recognizing the Ravenclaw colors on their ties.

"You guys are out of bed too," the first girl said.

"We're in detention." Lily said grimly.

"Aren't you Head Boy and Girl though?"

"Welllllll yeah. Here's a tip. Never get detention from McGonnagall, or anyone else for that matter, but McGonnagall is the worst. She gives you detention with gits like this." Lily whispered to the girls jabbing her thumb behind her in James' direction.

The girls giggled, gave their promise to try to never get detention if Lily wouldn't take any points off, bade them goodnight, and skipped to their common room.

"That was a nice thing you did there Lily." James spoke up after about a minute or two of awkward silence.

"Erm thanks. I just didn't want them to think..... Other things." she said lightly.

"Well, yeah I can only imagine what was going through their minds right now. Head Boy and Girl making out in the girls lavatory after hours! It's so scandalous." He said sarcastically.

"Yeah, and to think we were fighting over who got to clean the stalls." Lily said with a roll of her eyes.

"Why don't we just vanish the stall walls, and then we'll put them back after we're done so there isn't any more wrestling over who get to do what?"

"You know Potter, that's the best idea you've had all night."

"Yeah, I know I'm brilliant."

"So Mr. Brilliant, I'm freezing and drying charms don't work since we'll keep getting wet. Since you've had ssoooo much experience in detention-"

"Is Miss-I'm-Head-Girl-and-I'm-Top-Student-That-Actually-Studies asking me, Mr. Brilliant, for help?"

"Yes I am. Make me warmer." she pouted.

"Your wish is my command." he said cheekily and flashed her a grin that would make her weak at the knees if she were standing.

"Take off your robe," he ordered.

"My robe is nice and thick, it'll keep me warm. If I take it off it'll get even colder!" she argued.

"I'm not wearing my robe, and my teeth aren't chattering."

"Well-" she spluttered, "You're a guy!" she said lamely.

"Thank you for noticing." Truth be told she did _notice_ many things. First he had great abs from all that Quidditch. He had a good tan, even though it was the end of November. He was wet, to state the obvious and his shirt clung to him even tighter than she suspected it would. Not that she thought about that.... A lot.

"Guys never get cold! Ever! Whenever a girl in sweats and three layers of shirts on, walks up to them and says its cold they're standing there in shorts and a T-Shirt saying it's not cold. Then they act all sweet and say 'Here have my jacket', but they don't know that annoys the girl because although she is grateful for the jacket, she doesn't want you to stand there like it isn't cold out, even if you are to bloody proud."

"Well I do get cold thank you very much, and I just won't offer you this nice warm, _water repellant_ jacket."

"You don't have a nice warm water repellant jacket." she said mocking his tone.

"I have an imaginary one, and that's all that matters, because it keeps me warm." he said childishly enough sticking his tongue out at her.

Glaring playfully, now Lily was colder than before. Without her robe that James purposefully splashed more water on to make it colder, she was in her white polo, black plaited skirt, and her knee high socks.

"What are you looking at?" James asked about another five minutes later.

"Oh nothing," Lily blushed fiercely at her lie, but not averting her eyes.

Following her eyes, he was met with his own chest.

Smirking he started staring at Lily.

"What are _you _looking at?"

"Oh nothing," he said mocking her tone.

It was like deja vu. Lily traced his eyes to her chest.

"James Potter! Were you looking at my _chest_?"

"Lily Evans! Were you looking at _my_ chest?"

"You can't answer with a question that's cheating!"

"That wasn't a rule. Besides I thought this was a staring contest."

"Oh well-"

"Ha! You can't make up rules the contest already started."

With an indignant humph she went back to scrubbing, still not looking away from his chest since now it had become a contest. Her looking at him felt different them him staring at her though. Way different.

Suddenly she really wished she had her robe back on. But then she'd have to look at the robe to get it, and they didn't have wands.

Lily just thought really, really hard about the warm, water repellant, jacket hoping it would give her a sense of warmth. Surprisingly it worked! She was nice and toasty warm! Then she caught James staring into her eyes with awe, and was that respect she saw?

Realizing he lost the contest she yelled "Ha! I won!" and stuck her tongue out at him, just as he had done minutes ago.

"How did you do that?" he asked in awe.

"What beat you? It wasn't that hard James you really-"

"No, no not beat me. How did you get that jacket?" he asked curiously. "I mean one second I was staring at your wet, while shirt, that did look beautiful on you by the way. Then the next second you're in a puffy green jacket and sweatpants. Which is perfectly dry might I add?"

"What?" Lily looked down at herself. And sure enough, there was the puffy, green jacket James was implying. "Oh, I was just thinking how cold I was, and how that water repellant jacket sounded like heaven. Then I was just warm." she said her own curiosity showing.

"We're going to see Dumbledore when we're done with this." James said finality ebbed in the words.

"What why! It's only a warm up suit James."

"You used bloody wandless magic! Dumbledore _needs_ to know about this, Lily."

"No he doesn't! It's just wandless magic. I bet loads of people can do it,"

"No Lily, not many people can do it. Like maybe 1000,"

"That's a lot of people James." Lily raised her eyebrows in apprehension.

"In the world."

Lily froze. This just couldn't be. There was like a one in a million chance of having this gift. She was a Muggleborn. Surely this couldn't be happening. She wasn't even that powerful! She still liked to use sippy cups when she drank juice! She struggled with her Transfiguration! She was 5'4 and 125 pounds for god's sake. She didn't see herself as a threat to many people.

"James," she said slowly, "nobody can know about this."

"What! Why? We _have_ to tell Dumbledore! He can help you! He can do wandless magic too."

"James, Dumbledore is one of the most respected wizards in the _world_. Of course he can do wandless magic. He's also number one target for Voldemort."

"Lily," James said softly, "nobody will know but Dumbledore, you, and me. I promise."

"No." she said sternly, "the more people who know about this, the more I'll be at risk. I already know I'm a target for Voldemort. That much is bloody obvious. I'm Muggleborn for god's sake!"

"Fine. I was just trying to help." James said solemnly and went back to work knowing he couldn't win with her.

Lily looked over to him. He looked so put out, and she could tell he was cold, but just trying to hide it. She looked at him for a good hard few seconds and in a heartbeat he was wearing a puffy black jacket, and sweatpants to match her green ones.

He smiled and relaxed his muscles now looking content, "Thanks."

"No problem. It'll be our little secret." smiled Lily.

"Now it's time for the boy's lavatory!" James said happily.

"Why is that so exciting. At least girls have hygiene," Lily said wrinkling her nose as they walked across the hall, their warm-ups making an annoying scratchy sound as they walked.

"They're litterbugs! Did you _see_ all of those wrappers everywhere! I mean it looks like there were blood stains on the floor! Honestly it looked like there was a fist fight in there and nobody cleaned up the evidence."

"Erm James." she said awkwardly.

"What!" he exclaimed, "It's true! As Sirius said, it would be unethical for me to lie about it."

"And as me _and_ you said 'We don't care about ethics'," Lily just shook her head at James. "Let me jog your memory here. I have two words for you. Pink. Boxers."

"Ok, ew. I'm a guy here. Let's not talk about this. Lalalalalalalalalala," he sang as Lily followed laughing at him.

"You asked for it. Don't even get me started on the guy's bathroom. I mean the walls are _not_ painted yellow."

"Ew, your right. How about you use a little bit of (our little secret) and it'll be all clean and you won't have to touch a thing."

"Fine, but we ssssooo need a better codename for it."

"Yessss,"

With a flash of her eyes the room was simply sparkling.

"Ok now _you_ have to think of the codename for it. That was exhausting."

Feeling bad about making her use all of her energy and use wandless magic to clean the boys bathroom he started brainstorming. I mean come on it was the _boy's_ bathroom.

As they were walking back to McGonagall's office he started sprouting off codenames.

"Pumpkin?"

"To pumpkiny,"

"Tissue?"

"To allergy related,"

"Muggle?"

"To common of a word,"

"Rucksack?"

"Erm, no,"

"Cupcake?"

"Cupcake? Well let's see. We don't have cupcakes served for dinner, and they taste good, and people will just think we're talking about food. Since you're always hungry, it fits."

"So cupcake it is?"

"Cupcake it is." Lily agreed.

"AAHHH!" Lily screamed as she slipped. She must have stepped in one of the numerous puddles James was leaving as the bucket swung back and forth.

"Lily!"

"I'm fine. I'm fine." she said irately holding her hands out so that he wouldn't come any closer."

"No Lily you're not fine you just slipped and fell!"

"James people slip and fall every day. It's not life threatening. Besides I can walk watch." she gradually got to sitting on her knees and put out the one leg that didn't hurt so she could prop herself up. She got up fine, but she wasn't putting any pressure on her left ankle.

"See I'm fine."

"Your fine? Try walking then." he said smugly.

"Ok," she took a step with her right foot, which left all of her 125 pounds on her left foot. She let out a gasp of pain and James came rushing to her side.

"See you can't walk! I'm carrying you." he declared.

"No James you are not-" her breathing hitched before she could finish her second. Now she was being carried, bridal style, by none other than James Potter. Oh god.

Refusing to her any one of her numerous protests Lily finally accepted she wasn't going to be put down anytime soon. She was getting really, really, sleepy as she bounced softly up and down in James' strong arms. She put her arms around his neck, nuzzled her head into his chest, and inhaled his sweet scent. He smelled like Mandarin, Flowers, Pepper, Sandalwood, Vanilla, Musk, and Amber all in one. To Lily it smelt like heaven on earth despite the fait soapy smell that she noticed was her wet hair.

She gave up and fell asleep clearly exhausted. James smiled to himself. He was perfectly happy. Detention was over. He had a beautiful girl sleeping in his arms. He could just imagine a nice fluffy pillow waiting for him.

When he reached McGonagall's office he had to knock with his foot so he wouldn't drop Lily.

"Mr. Potter, Miss-" McGonnagall started but was cut off by James.

"Sshhh she's sleeping."

The slightest of smiles graced the Transfiguration teacher's face; "Take care of her James." that was all she said. She handed James their wands and closed the door without an explanation. She even called him James. Never in his life had he heard a professor call a student by their first name.

He got a cheeky grin slowly starting to form on his face. He always knew McGonnagall liked him better than Sirius.

When he got back to the Common Room it was completely deserted. Since he couldn't get up to the girls staircase he laid Lily down on the most comfortable couch by the fire. He ran up to his dormitory grabbed his pillow and blanket. He rushed back down stair and lightly lifted her head carefully avoiding getting his fingers tangled in her luscious locks. After putting his favorite pillow under her head he draped the blanket over her.

Noticing now he didn't have a place to sleep he transfigured an old gobstones piece into a nice pillow, and the gobstones board into a fuzzy blanket.

That night he slept soundly knowing that Lily was sleeping just a couch away. The last thing he saw before he fell asleep was her lying next to him. He swore he was the happiest man alive at the moment, and didn't exactly know why.

****

A/N: Well there you have it! I would like to thank my.... acquaintance Tiffany for helping me with this chapter. It's dedicated to her. She has a mean step-dad so this is for you Tiffany! By the way you're famous now! Yayy! So the message is if you want your big break as a rock star, actor, actress, or just anything you can just about think of REVIEW!!!!!!!! Remember 10 reviews for the next post!!!!!!! If you have your own HP story that you want me to Read and Review I'll do it. I'm on here like 24/7. Especially when I'm supposed to be sleeping! Thank god for my iPod Touch! I would Siriusly die without it. I mean then I wouldn't be able to read your guy's stories! So even if your review is to suggest another story I'll take it!

Love,

Sirius' Sweetheart/Brittney

-Remember what I told you before; if you review you get more love!-


	22. A Sirius Day

**I would like to dedicate this chapter to _PottersLittleSister._ You're amazing! And now _FAMOUS!!!!! yayy!_She has reviewed and PMed me a lot this week, and she's been keeping me company through PM's. She has a really cool story called _This Is Sirius_. It's about Harry and his best friend Lily. It's a really good story so check it out! If you want me to dedicate a chapter to you, all you have to do is REVIEW of course, and tell me a really good Lily and James story to read. It's really easy. After this chapter's reviews with HOPEFULLY great L/J stories included, I want to have a poll on which story is the best, if you've read them. **

**From now on, all sentences in _ITALICS _are going to be somebody's thoughts. You'll be able to recognize the person who's thinking them too. It won't be that hard. I'll tell you whose thinking it sometimes too, I just find it a little pointless if you know who is thinking it.**

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* * *

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The bright sun was peaking through the blinds illuminating a young girl's flaming red hair. It was splayed out behind her like an angel. As she lay on the couch with a surprisingly fluffy, comfortable pillow, and a _really_ soft blanket. It smelled really good too. It was a distinct "guy scent" and it smelled _so_good. Like cookies smelled to a little kid on christmas.

The redhead's eyes fluttered open revealing sparkling green emeralds. She let her eyes sweep the room and recognized she was in the common room. Lily could feel another person's presence in the room and she saw him.

James was laying there on the couch next to her with his hand on his chest and his mouth slightly opened. Now she remembered the context of last night. She had sprained her ankle on one of the bloody puddles. '_That would explain the sharp throbbing in my ankle,'_ Lily thought.

Using her newly discovered talent she looked at her ankle and thought the incantation '_Episkey._' She jumped a little when she felt the muscles realigning themselves in her ankle. She still wasn't used to the whole wandless magic thing_. _Cupcake rather, as the codename suggested.

She groaned aloud when she realized it was Friday. Looking at her watch she determined it was five o' clock and it was time to get up anyways. Walking over to James' limp body she poked him hard in the stomach. Once that didn't work she tried his leg, arm, elbow, funny bone, cheek, lips, nose, and chest. No result. Or so she thought.

"James," she whispered, "Pssstt."

No response......

"James," she said in her normal voice.

"Go away Sirius," he mumbled into the pillow.

Realizing that he told Sirius almost everything, and people HAD to tell the truth when they sleep, she decided to have some fun.

Clearing out her throat to try out her new _man voice _she started with a simple question. Sitting on his legs she pretended to act professional. She stole his glasses (she likes to wear glasses even though she has good vision she thinks that they bring out her eyes more. Even though they don't need to be she insists on it,) and put them on the brim of her nose, pretended she had interview cards and went on with the questioning.

"Whens your birthday?"

"March 27th,"

"Who's your best friend?"

Knowing the obvious answer she just went to the next question barely registering his answer.

"Sirius Black,"

"Who's your favorite teacher?"

"Professor Quiggley," **(A/N That's the DADA teacher.)**

_Interesting, very interesting. _Lily thought stroking an imaginary beard, she assumed it would have been McGonnagal since that was his best subject, and the detentions she gave him and Sirius were only to hide her favoritism.

"What's your parent's names?"

"Marie and Mark Potter."

_M&M that must have been cool._ _Having your husband/wife have the same initial as you making both of them together a candy bar._

"Who do you fancy at this very moment." she asked in a childish voice.

"Lily Evans."

Lily took a sharp intake of breath. She had been expecting that answer. It just made it so much more real that he said it aloud.

"Do you love her?"

"Forever and Always," he said simply.

Changing the subject hastily, she decided to confirm some more suspicions.

"What would you do if Snape kissed Lily?"

"I'd beat him to a bloody pulp, then I'd blend the pulp and dig a really deep hole to dump it in." James said in a dead serious voice, even though he seemed to be sleeping.

This truly scared Lily at his hatred for her old best friend, and how much she realized he loved her.

"Is Remus a werewolf?" she whispered even though she already knew the answer.

"Erm,"

"And you're an unregistered Animagus that takes form of a stag right?"

"Uh,"

Well those were some of the most personal questions she could have asked him, and so she figured it was only natural for him to not immediately answer. She couldn't really think of anything else to ask so she started talking about herself.

"Well since you wont remember any of this when you wake up I'm going to tell you some things _nobody_knows about me. Ok hhhmmm.... Well there is the fact that I am afraid of leaves. They just freak me out. I mean some of them have really point edges, they grow on trees and/or bushes that have thorns and love to poke you, and they just fall anywhere they please. Incuding my hair which they never seem to want to untangle from.

"My sister Petunia _wants_to be a witch. She wrote to Dumbledore when she was 12 demanding for acceptance. I _had_ a brother," Lily took in a deep breath. This was _deathly_personal in her opinion. Not even Lauren knew about it. There were pictures in the house, but Lily just told them it was one of her friends when they were a baby but couldn't remember who it was. "But, he died. He had brain cancer, and nobody knew what it was, nor the cure for it. So he just died. He was only five months old. I was four at the time. I can't remember him much. I only remember he used to have the cutest little dimples on his chubby cheeks." Lily took a shaky break and wiped a stray tear of her face. That was harder than she thought it would be. She was talking to a sleeping person and thought it was near impossible to do, she would never be able to say it to somebody who was awake of all things. She decided she didn't want to say anything else to personal incase she just completely broke down in memories about Kaleb.

"Erm my favorite color is green, of course. I have a horrible temper, as you may or may not have noticed. I hate roses, they make me sneeze. My favorite candy is Ice Mice, but I like Honeydukes chocolate too. I told you about my fear/hatred of leaves. I truly love Amityville Horror even though it scares the crap out of me," After about five more minutes of pointless ramblings she heard a snort coming from James after she said something about how Mr. Ollivander scared her in first year when he just kept demanding her to try different wands.

"James," she said sternly, "Are you _awake_?"

Not answering, forgetting that he was supposed to answer every question as a sleeping person was, he just laid there.

"James!"

"Hey," he said groggily, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

"Morning." she said cheerily.

"Why are you so chipper?"

"Oh no reason. I'm just really relieved."

"'Bout what?." he asked as if he didn't know, "Also Do you think you could, oh I don't know, return the circulation to my legs?"

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Lily rushed to get off of his legs which were now tingling pins and needles to avoid the first question.

"S'ok. Hey, what time is it?"

"Erm, five 'o eight." she said promptly.

James' expression rejuvenated he tore the blanket off and practically jumped off the couch.

"And why are you so suddenly happy?"

"It's time to go running," he said simply.

"Running? It's five AM. You know the one that sounds like yam without the 'y'."

"Yeah I know. I run every Monday Wednesday and Friday morning."

"Why?" she asked wrinkling her nose, "You'll get all sweaty before classes even start."

"That's what Anti-Persperation & Simple Cooling charms are for. You should come some time."

"No thanks but I'll pass. I don't fancy running very much. I don't really see the point of it. Apparation is faster, so are _brooms_ for that matter." Lily said scrunching her face up at the word _'brooms'._

"What the problem Lily? I thought you liked flying," James inquired curiously.

"Correction. I like _watching_ other people flying. I just don't think they're safe enough for _me_ to get on. If you haven't noticed I have the worst hand-eye coordination in the school."

"Psh. No, you're obviously forgetting Gladys Palmerton."

At this Lily snorted. Gladys was a fifth year Hufflepuff who tripped on air, ran into walls, AND got hit in the face with something or other, at least, twice a day. It was kind of sad how really clumsy and uncoordinated the poor girl really was.

"Fine, second most uncoordinated."

"That's more like it, but you are going flying with me sometime," James said smugly.

"No I'm not. What in the name of Merlin gave you _that _idea. Most people, like yourself before about forty five seconds ago, thought that I loved flying and I just denied that."

"Because," James said in a sing song voice, "You aren't going upstairs to change until you agree to go running AND flying with me. See what you get yourself into? Talking to me at five in the morning. Psh."

To prove Lily could handle not being allowed upstairs she just summoned her uniform down from her dorm and charmed her dirty clothes to swap with her clean ones.

" Ha. See I don't really _need _to go up there. It would just be nice to you know primp myself for dear Severus. " she said sarcastically, "Yes I really should just stop talking to you shouldn't I?" she asked dryly after he squirted a bit of mud at her from his wand, "but really James. MOVE."

"No I don't think I will." he said leaning against the banister on the girls staircase.

"Really, I think you will."

"What are you going to do Evans? Push me away? Yeah right. If you even tried to I'd just pick you up and carry you away."

"Even I'm not foolish enough to do that at five AM." Glaring at him playfully.

Suddenly James was hanging upside down by his ankle in front of the girls' staircase.

"Evans! Put me down!" James said wriggling around by his ankle, robes flipped over his head.

"Nope, you might want to be a bit quieter. Not _all_ girls are morning people like I am. _Silencio._" she teased twirling her wand in her fingers.

Now James was upside down and with non functioning vocal cords. _This sure is a good morning_. Lily thought to herself.

Skipping up the staircase at the halfway point, she turned around to watch James trying to yell what looked like obscenities. Starting to feel a little bad, she took the silencing charm off, then waved her wand and thought _Libracorpsus _so she could hear James' scream as he fell to the ground in a rumpled heap.

"Your gonna get it Evans!" James yelled staggering around, still dizzy from all of the blood going to his face.

"Oh I'm so scared." Lily laughed as James tried to get up the staircase.

The stairs obviously turned into a slide just like Lily predicted they would. What she didn't predict though was the she'd be sliding down as well.

Screaming all the way, Lily landed, of course, on top of James.

"Sorry," she muttered as she hastily stood up.

James just lay there for a few seconds.

Starting to walk up the staircase again Lily asked, "James, aren't you going to, like, I don't know get up anytime soon?"

"Of course!"

"Then why are you still laying on the ground?!"

"Nice view," he said simply.

"What in the world are you----" Lily started, realizing what he meant by _view_ (AKA her **derrière**) "Ugh! I can't believe your tact!" Lily exclaimed stomping up the stairs with fresh emotion.

* * *

About forty minutes later Lily snuck back down to the common room. Really she only went up stairs to put on the little bit of makeup she owned. Namely mascara, and light eyeliner.

She decided she would go to the balcony. Lily hadn't been there in a while. Not since before Halloween.

Lily loved the balcony. It was one of her most favorite places in all of Hogwarts. You got a perfect view of the Quidditch Pitch, the Black Lake, the forest, and it was the perfect place to spy on people. For example best friends that don't tell you their going out with the hottest guy in Hogwarts! -cough-Lauren-cough-

The balcony was where a lot of her _firsts _happened. Her first fight with Lauren, her first time seeing a shooting star, her first kiss, and her first breakup with the guy that gave her her first kiss. So many memories were made here.

Today was the day she was going to have another first. This was the day she was going to use, her newly acquired/stolen from Morgan, Omnoculars (The Original Version), to spy on James Potter jogging around the grounds.

Putting a cushioning charm on the railing to rest her elbows on and took her place. Omnoculars pressed to her face, she went into super spy mode, that wasn't secret.

At first it was all really boring. He was just stretching and such. Then for some stupid reason he took off his shirt in the 40 degree weather! Personally Lily thought the boy was bloody crazy as he pointed his wand at himself and cut his sweatpants making them into gym shorts. _Yeah, it's official. James Potter has officially crossed the border to pure insanity._

After a half hour of "James watching" as Lily so cleverly called it, she started to get bored of staring at his incredibly body. The girls, who she caught spying from behind some of the trees that lined the forest by the pitch, ruined her happy mood and turned it into jealousy. SHE could be down there giggling and pointing like them. Then James would've smiled and waved at her. The fact that he said he fancied her just this morning as he was sleeping made it slightly better. Slightly.

* * *

Still in her jealous mood Lily walked down to breakfast without the girls. There she saw Sirius and Remus sitting alone at the Gryffindor table making their sausage and bacon fight eachother. (Peter was sitting at the Hufflepuff table with Monica)

"So whose winning?" she asked nobody in particular.

"I AM!" They both shouted at the same time.

Using her eyes Lily made them start attacking the boys instead of each other. By the end of it each of them were just as convinced that it was the other that attacked them.

Deciding to intervene with the petty fight Lily said, "Don't you think it was weird if _both_ of you made the stupid pieces of meat attack the other at the same time?"

Staring blankly at each other, then at Lily they said, "What's your point?" in unison.

Letting out an exasperated sigh Lily just sat there shaking her head while she eavesdropped on people's conversations around her. So far she had learned that Summer Andrews, a fifth year chaser on the Ravenclaw quidditch team had a huge zit on her nose, a rumor that Dumbledore was secretly dating McGonnagal, a rumor that James was going out with a very pretty girl named Chloe that was on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team as a chaser. So far she didn't hear anything interesting so she decided to take a short walk around the lake and give the giant squid some toast. There were still two hours to class and she had nothing to do. She woke up an hour earlier than she anticipated.

* * *

Four hours after Lily's walk around the lake she entered the Defense Against The Dark Arts classroom, it was a double period today and Lily was exited, as always for class to begin.

"Today, we will be practicing duelling," Professor Quiggley said happily. "Silently. First one to get hit, losesm"

At the word silently, the class groaned knowing this was going to be hard.

"Going first will be Morgan Monroe and Remus Lupin," Professor Quiggley said cheerfully, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Morgan and Remus walked awkwardly to the front of the classroom, bowed, and began to duel.

Three minutes later and a couple well aimed hexes later, it was over. Remus won by getting her with a cutting hex to the right arm. It devastated him to do it. In reality he was trying to miss her so she didn't get hit. Well that plan didn't work out to well. He got his passing grade and went to sit glumly in the back of the classroom while Morgan went to the Hospital Wing to get her arm fixed.

By the end of the period almost everyone had gone. Sirius had gone up against Narcissa, winning victoriously over his cousin. Peter battled Lucius, and lost within the first forty five seconds, _blasted Conjuctivus Curse, _thought Peter. Lauren had gotten to battle Bellatrix and they both hit their target at the same time resulting in a tie. Kylie and Logan, and Alice and Frank both battled as well. Kylie lost, suprisingly. Logan was just better, there wasn't any particular reason she lost, just skill. Alice won against Frank, but you could tell neither of them were doing their worst. After a few more Slytherins Lily and James were the only ones left. Lily had been jealous all day. If there was one emotion Lily hated the most, it was jealousy. It represented weakness. Here James was soaking it all up still winking, and grinning at smiling girls. Not like he didn't always do this, today Lily just seemed to notice.

"Last but certainly not least," the professor started "Miss Evans and Mister Potter if you will."

Lily got out of her desk now angered by the jealousy bubbling inside of her. She was angry at James. This out to make the duel a lot more interesting. James seemed to notice the fire in her eyes, and became afraid. Very afraid.

When they got up to the front of the class James whispered something in Lily's ear, "What's got your knickers in a twist Evans? You look like an offended hippogriff." Which was evidently the wrong thing to say. If nothing was wrong now, there sure was going to be by the end of class.

"You may begin."

"Ready Potter?" Lily sneered uncharacteristiclly.

"As always Lily Dearest," he said to the class more than here. Her eyes flash and she sent out a _Densaugeo (Teeth Growing Jinx)_ that James had to roll on the floor to avoid. By the time he was back up on his feet he barely had time to cast a sheild charm, therefore deflecting two stunners.

With both of their sheilds properly in place both competetors got into the game. There were stunners, jinxes, hexes, and curses flying all around them. It wasn't until five minutes later Lily remembered her wandless magic advantage. Smiling to herself, she sent out a few nice little charms his way. Not expecting this, James was hit with two charms of Lily's own invention. The "Touchless Charm" which made you able to feel nothing but spells that are cast on you, which is including their own self in the 'no feeling' category. It made you go almost completely alone. Without your sense of touch you can't really be sure what's a dream or reality. Also the "Shocking Charm" which shocks the opponent with a mild force.

James recieved the Touchless Charm first and panic aroused in him for the first time in the duel. He couldn't feel the ground it 'felt' like he was floating on nothingness. The only think he felt was Shock. Literally. Lily's shocking charm hit after he let his guard down. Even thought technically the duel was over they kept fighting. Despite the several attempts from Professor Quiggley and other classmates, the duel went on. They just learned to deflect and ignore any stray attempts to summon their wands not keeping their eyes off eachother.

Five minutes until class was over, the duel was going on fifteen minutes. Curses were being taken if they were recognized as not that much of a threat, to keep thier posistion, and not to show any bit of weakness they barely moved, except for the whole walking in a circle thing.

Lily was sporting a nice gash on her cheek for barely a second before she hit herself with a Healing Charm using her wandless magic. Lily could heal her injuries James could not. LIly carelessly threw a Healing Charm at James hitting him square in the chest, healing all of his outside, visible injuries.

This angered James making him put more effort into the fight at hand, proving he could beat her himself without her petty pity.

Getting mildly tired Lily decided to bombard him with bird to peck at him, "Avis!" followed by an "Oppungo!" sending multpile birds with sharp beaks attack James. James exploded all of the birds with a shash of his wand.

While James was distracted and slahsing up at the birds, Lily hit him with a perfectly aimed stunner to the chest.

Then everything went black.

**A/N: Ok, that was the only actual duel I've written that wasn't like a few sentences. I don't really know how to write duels that well. So I'm sorry if it's not what I hoped it was. Again, I'd just like to thank PottersLittleSister for PMing me every day, and reivewing of course. Next chapter goes to reviewer who gives me a good story to read!**

**Love you!**

**Brittney/Sirius' Sweetheart**


	23. Bread Fight? Childish Much?

**Ok. Now. I am going to dedicate this chapter to _cookiedoughYUM _for being such a good reviewer and gave me a good story to read, and I applaud you for that. Yayy! Your famous now!!! -Confetti everywhere explodes out of random places- Though I would like to thank _PottersLittleSister_for giving me my 100th review. I just want to thank all of you for reviewing. Love you! Ok, now that I've gotten that over and done with I present you with your Christmas present. Or if you don't celebrate Christmas then you just get a present! LUCKY YOU! I'm rambling again. Sorry. -Blushes- Now, I present you with the next chapter.**

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* * *

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A dull thudding filled Lily's head as she slowly opened her eyes, adjusting them to the bright light. Her whole body was sore and it hurt to move. She felt like she could just lay in this smelly, scratchy, Hospital Wing bed forever. Wait. Hospital Wing!!!! When did she get in Hospital Wing? And why was she all sore? And, most importantly, why was James Potter in the bed next to her!? She was supposed to be mad and jealous! She couldn't be mad and jealous when he looked like he had just been beat up and then half violently shocked, being all cute and innocent looking! It just didn't work like the wake of her unexplainable anger she tried to stand up and stride over to James' bed, forcefully waking him up. Tried.

As soon as she put her 123 pounds onto her own two feet, she fell to the floor with a small shriek that had Pomfrey bustling over in a heartbeat.

"Foolish girl!" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed angrily as she escorted Lily back over to her bed, "What in the name of Merlin were you doing!"

"Trying to get up to wake up Potter, so I can yell at him for looking all cute and innocent while I'm trying to be an angry, jealous, emotional, seventeen year old girl." Lily pouted adorably. This softened the young Healer, surprisingly.

"Well as long as it was something important." Madam Pomfrey said with a small hint of sarcasm.

"So can I go now?" Lily asked impatiently.

"No! Why in the world would I discharge you when you just collapsed on the floor."

"Er. You care for my......," Lily trailed off as she thought of a word that would seem appropriate for the situation, "I got nothing."

"That's what I thought." the Healer said smugly. She gave Lily this odd potion that made her fall into a deep sleep, only to have Lily wake up two hours later demanding food.

"Madam Pomfrey!" Lily called in a sing-song voice.

"Yes, child."

"I'm hungry."

"I'll call the house elves for some food."

"Ask them for rolls please." Lily called at her retreating figure.

With a curt nod of her head she went to her office and called a house elf.

A few minutes later a house elf named Pinky appeared at Lily's bedside with a basket of hot, fresh, rolls, a pitcher of pumpkin juice, a ham, and some treacle tart.

"Thanks Pinky. You can just leave it on my bed."

"Yes Miss Lily." the elf obeyed and put the tray at Lily's feet. Before she could utter a small 'thanks' she disapparated with a loud crack.

Smiling to herself Lily picked up the basket of bread, took a roll at and started examining it. Then she chucked it hard to her left, straight at James' head. He stirred slightly and rolled to his side, but didn't wake up. So she threw another. And another..... And another.... And another.

Finally James couldn't take it anymore. He swiftly rolled over, caught the bread, and threw it at her with more force than intended.

"Did you just chuck bread at me?"

"Yeah," James shrugged.

"Oh that is just so childish." she said loftily.

"Well at least I'm not the one with a whole basket of ammo, throwing it at her opponent while he's _trying to sleep._"

Lily just gave an indignant 'hmph' and threw another piece of bread at James.

Soon they were in an all out bread fight, despite the pain it cost them just to move an inch.

When Madam Pomfrey saw them she nearly fainted herself at the sight of her only two patients fighting with bread..... Bread of all things!

"What do you two think you're doing?" Madam Pomfrey screeched.

"Throwing bread." They responded in unison, hiding their hands behind their back.

"Drop. The. Bread." she said menacingly.

Well they 'dropped' it all right. But not on the scratchy beds they were sitting on. But they launched them across the gap between them, attacking each other.

Unfortunately for them, one of them hit Pomfrey in the face. She sent a _mega-death-glare_ at both of them, in the Hospital Wing of all places!

"Want some bread?" Lily asked sheepishly.

Wiping some stray butter off her face she responded, "No I do _not_ want any of your bread. What I do want is this Wing cleaned up before I get back. You should be grateful that I can't give detention to my patients." With a sharp turn on her heal, she was heading towards the doors of her office.

Once she was clearly out of sight James and Lily burst out laughing uncontrollably with mirth.

"Did you see--"

"Her face-"

"The butter--"

"Her face--"

"The bread--"

"Her face!" James kept repeating.

After they were able to control themselves for more than a few seconds Lily spoke up, "Well I think that confirms the fact that we aren't leaving here anytime soon," she said in a resigned voice.

James let out a snort of laughter, "I wouldn't be to sure of that."

"James, we just had a bread fight in the middle of her precious sanctuary. I think that she would be more than willing to coop us up in here. She _knows_ how I hate to miss classes."

"Please, Lily," drawled James in a professional manner, _"nobody_ can resist the Potter Charm._"_

At this Lily couldn't repress a hearty snort. "Potter Charm?"

"Watch. And. Learn. Poppy!" he yelled across the room, trying to be 'flirtatious' he swung his legs over the bed, stood up, and tried leaning against the wall. A stray piece of bread lodged itself underneath his sock and he slipped and fell. Now not only did he have bruises from the duel, he had a nice, fat, purple, bruise on is butt from landing on the Hostital Wing floor, a bump on his head from hitting it on the metal railing, and an unhappy healer standing over him, glaring.

Lily giggled, "James?"

"musufsuglask?" he tried, then promptly passed out.

Lily started feeling guilty. If she hadn't question his damned charm he wouldn't have gotten even _more_ hurt in the first place. I mean they were both in here because of her, and she just had to come and screw it up worse.

"Hey Lily, he Pron-. What happened to him?" Sirius asked in a would-be-confused voice. Of course he knew what happened, he had been spying on the two all day.

"Oh, well it's quite simple really, he just bumped his head and fell." she said lightly.

"And why would he do that?" he asked looking at the healer trying to roll James over on the ground.

"Oh, er- I questioned the Potter Charm actually. He was trying to prove me wrong."

Sirius let out one of his famous bark-like laughs.

"Hasn't he learned by now that you're always right?"

"Nope, after all these years of him thinking he knew me, he never quite grasped onto that concept of me always being right."

"He just doesn't get that in a relationship the woman is always right."

"Exactly!" just to clarify her intentions she said, "not that I'm involved, or ever will be," she added a little sadly "with James Potter romantically."

"Course not, love." he said unconvincingly.

"Oh and by the way, since I said you were always right, there are always a few exceptions to every rule, so whenever I say you're wrong, it's most likely true." and with that he disappeared to do something he wouldn't ever be seen in public doing. Deep thinking.

* * *

Around six o' clock that night Lily got an owl in the Hospital Wing.

_L-_

_We need to talk. Meet me in the Astronomy tower at midnight after rounds. Come alone. _

_S_

Lily flipped the parchment over to see if there was anything else written besides the note that was short enough to be a PS. Nope. Nothing. She slightly wondered who 'S' was. It could be Severus, Sirius, one of the prefects, anybody really. So she decided that at midnight she would be up on top of the Astronomy Tower. Even though she knew it was stupid and foolish to meet an anonymous person, alone, in the dead of night. But hey, what's life without a few risks? Eh?

* * *

**_Friday night during Patrols._**

**_Lily and Remus. (James is still in the HW [Hospital Wing])_**

**_Fourth Floor_**

**_11:49 PM_**

"Hey Remus?" Lily asked while they were on the way back to Gryffindor Tower.

"Hey Lily?" he responded.

"Do you mind if I go up and check the Astronomy Tower one last time. I have a nagging suspicion I should."

"Sure, do you want me to come with?"

"No thanks, I think I can manage a few trouble makers on my own for 15 minutes."

"Ok Lily, goodnight. See you tomorrow." Remus said, and kept walking toward Gryffindor Tower thinking of Morgan.

"That was a close one." Lily breathed. She had eleven minutes to get up four flights of stairs and walk about half the length of the school.

Twenty three seconds before midnight Lily barged in the Astronomy Tower panting.

"I'm-- here--" Lily said between gasps of breathe.

"That you are." Sirius stated coolly.

"Sirius?" she asked, her voice raising an octave, due to her surprise, and lack of breath.

"Lily,"

"What in the name of all that is magical did you ask me to meet you up here for in the middle of the night?"

"I wanted to talk to you." he said simply.

"Well I know that. But what was so important that you couldn't tell me while you saw me in the Hospital Wing?"

"Well number one, I didn't think of it yet. And two, I can't talk about my best friend and his personal life, while he's in the room and would skin me alive if he heard me tell anybody."

"Oh," said Lily, slightly taken aback, "continue?" she said uncertainly.

"Ok, well, I don't really know if I should be telling you this. God, James would kill me if he knew."

"It can't be that bad."

"It's not. It's just.... personal." he said searching for a good word.

"Erm. I guess I should start from the beginning. James had a brother named Kaleb,"

_"Had_ _a brother_? You mean they aren't brothers anymore? Did Kaleb get disowned or something?"

"Hey! New rule. No interrupting the story teller. And no it wasn't anything like that. Well Kaleb, he--- died."

Lily gasped audibly.

"Died!? Oh! Poor James-"

"What did I say about interrupting?"

"But-"

"No buts. Do you want to hear the story or not?"

"Sorry." she said sheepishly.

"Ok. Where was I? Oh yeah. Well Kaleb was James' older brother. They did everything together. When I moved in with James after fifth year, he let me have his room. How cool is that? There were plenty of other rooms in the house, but he gave up his for me. Well that summer Kaleb got out Auror training. It was his first mission as a fully qualified Auror, and he encountered Voldemort. We don't know much about his death. 'Classified Information' or some crap that the Ministry made up. We know it was Advada Kedavra, it was Voldemort, and it was on a mission. That's all they tell his family.

"Well, as you probably didn't notice, he was a wreck when school started. The pranks got more and more dangerous, he was angry all the time, went out to the bar every night-"

"Bar?! He was only 16! How could he drink at 16!? How-"

"What did I say about inturrupting?" Sirius growled dangerously. After a moment of subdued silence, and a nearly petrified Lily, he contunued, "Right. Well every night we would go out to the Hogs Head. And Aberforth, the barman, he'll give any bloke a drink if it means a customer. It's pathetic. Really, it is. Well back to the story. James would stay out practically allllll night, come back in the morning, sleep, take a hangover potion that he stole from Old Sluggy's storage, a pepper up potion, and then start the day. There was even one whole week where he didn't hit on you, ask you on a date, or hand for marriage, or even publically humiliate you in any way for that matter. God, that was a boring week. You should at _least_ remember that."

"Erm, well, not really. I kinda sorted hated his guts back then."

"Sort of understandable," Siruis said nodding his head, "Well never mind that. He stayed in this crappy state for about two whole months, but he _did_ start to hit on you again, obviously, or else he wouldn't have gotten those burns on his buttox, and er- other extremities, from all of those Stinging Hexes you sent his way for pissing you off. I think you were like his happy medium or something. He was always different around you. Like the same old James, constantly humiliating himself in front of you trying to look cool."

Sirius snorted at the memories of James "acting cool" in front of Lily.

"He is such a dork. Yeah well, you can thank me, (psh who else?), for getting him back to himself. It was this _amazing_ prank we, well _I, _pulled on Snape. I _know_ I shouldn't be telling you this but Remus has this badly behaved rabbit, I'm sure you've heard of. And well--"

"Ok, one last inturruption! I swear!" Lily exclaimed after she saw the look on Sirius' face, after she inturrupted.

"I know Remus is a werewolf."

"What! How in the world did you know that! I bet Snape told you! That git! I'm gonna kill him." Sirius yelled, he was getting up to leave and was almost at the door when Lily grabbed the hem of his cloak causing him to trip. She mentally closed the door, and corrected him.

"No, no, no, you prat. I did a bit of..... research. I mean it gets kinda obvious after a while. In first year he told me he didn't have a very big family. Just his mom, his dad, an aunt and uncle, and himself. I mean after about eight funerals, you kinda get the impression that he's lying. How many times can his mom or dad get sick? So I started observing more thing about him. I noticed he only got sickly looking once a month, and that was always near the full moon. The pieces just sorta fit together and it came to me after that. Why would Snape know anyway?"

"Yeah, well about that, you don't really need no know. I changed my mind about telling you."

"Oh no you don't Sirius Black. You're going to tell me and you're going to tell me right now. Or some little..... _accident_ will happen to you're hair in your sleep."

"No! Not my hair! Anything but my hair!"

"Well then, I suggest you tell me what happened to scare James out of his little mood, or else it's your hair on the line." she placated.

Sirius struggled trying to resist. He really didn't want to tell the story and then have Lily look down on him for almost _killing_ her ex-best friend. Unable to resist imagining his handsome head being bald, he gave in.

"Fine, I'll tell the story. Well I thought I'd have some fun, so one night when Remus was getting ready to transform I saw Snape heading down there following Remus and Pomfrey down to the Shack, and--"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa 'The Shack'? What's the shack?"

"Oh it's the Shrieking Shack, that's where Remus transforms. The passageway is under the Whomping Willow. So now that you know that little secret, on with this story. Well I saw that he was following him. So I ran over to him and told him that if he wanted to know where Remus went, he just had to press this certain knot in the Willow, and follow the staircase down. So he was on his way down, and I was telling James about how I told Snape to follow Remus down. James just jumped out of his seat and ran out of the common room and down to the Willow to go rescue Snape from getting torn to little bits by Remus, and then he saved the day. Woo. Yay. Go James. Well Snape told Dumbledore, and I got suspended while the little git got off clean."

"I thought you were suspended for TPing the McGonnagalls office with spellotape!"

"Nope! I only got a detention for that." said a cheekily grinning Sirius.

"Well now that you know that sweet little story, it's bed time." Sirius said getting up from his seat on the hard stone floor.

He offered his and to Lily who graciously accepted.

They walked out of the Astronomy Tower with linked arms, causing some raised eye-brows from some wandering bypassers who Lily told off for being out late. While she, herself, was out after her own curfew..........................

**A/N: Well, well, well. I finally posted! Well this is your Chrismahannuakwanzica present/New Year's. (Those are the three major winter holiday's for different religions combined by the way.) Well please review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please! Thanks Chloe for the help with the chapter! TEN REVIEWS FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TEN REVIEWS FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TEN REVIEWS FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TEN REVIEWS FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! **

**-Brittney/Sirius' Sweetheart**


	24. James & Sirius' Battle of the Best

The next few days went by without much significance. It snowed on the first Thursday in December just like Peter predicted it would. That was pretty much it for the week. Dumbledore finally told Lily and James to start planning the Seventh Year's Annual Christmas Ball. Thankfully, Lily had started preparing for this _months _in advance. She even pre-scheduled a seventh years only Hogsmeade trip for two weeks time. .With thoughts of her brother Kaleb, and James' brother Kaleb weighing heavily on her mind, she was surprised she even could think clearly in class. She decided she wasn't going to confront James about it since she wasn't supposed to know in the first place, and Sirius would kill her if she did.....

"Lileeeeeeeee," Sirius whined on. They were all trapped in the boy's dorm doing homework, and Lily wouldn't let them leave until they ALL finished. Including Peter. For extra measures, she put a special high grade locking charm on the door equipped with a password, 'Homework before organizing huge, school-wide, Siruis Black & James Potter's famous, year end snowball fight'.

"Siriiiiiii," she whined back.

"First of all, don't call me that. Second of all, can we pleaaassseee stop doing homework! I have a pinkie cramp." he even tried giving her a puppy-dog-pout. Which he knew how to do _very_ well by now.

"Oh, boo whoo. It's not going to kill you, _Siri._ And nope, sorry. Do you _want_ to be kicked out of the dance for not completing your assignments?"

"Well, no." he whimpered.

"I think we know the sensible choice then." she said smugly.

"Guys, just shut up and do the homework. She'll let you out faster that way. She does have a password on the door 'ya know. If you try and get out without the password. It shocks you. Sirius, you do _not_ want your head to be a giant frizzball do you?" Kylie muttered. Sirius' eyes widened and he shut his mouth promptly. Peter however just wanted to go outside and enjoy the snow, so he ignored Kylie's warning and pushed her a little farther.

"Go outside and organize a huge snowball fight?" Peter said hopefully.

"No, stay _inside_ and work hard on our transfiguration essays." Lily said through a clenched jaw.

"Only the Transfiguration homework you say?" Remus asked cleverly.

"Well, no _all_ of it."

"Ah, ah, ah. That's _not_ what you just said Lily. You said we could be inside doing out _Transfiguration _essays. You didn't say anything about doing our other homework, _outside_."

"Well-" she started but James interrupted her.

"Look Lil' we've been doing homework for six bloody _hours. _That's more than I do in like... a month. Our Charms essay is about manipulating spells to your advantage, and to practice the Snow Conjuring Charm. For DADA it's to practice the Patronus Charm. Transfiguration was that monster essay that I finished an hour ago. Potions was an essay on moonstone, and it's uses in potion making. HOM well.... I don't remember what it was about, but i wrote that essay three hours ago, and I already did my Dream Diary for Divination. We can do the Charms and DADA practical _outside_. I mean it's not like we can practice in here. It's already cramped as it is. This room wasn't built for 11 people 'ya know."

Cracking a grin at James' art of persuasion, she agreed half-heartedly.

"Fine," she said taking out her wand.

"But, only if we go outside, we actually attempt, to try, and practice the practical part of the homework."

"Open the damn door Lily! I have to go pee, and I have to go now!" Kylie whispered harshly in her ear.

"Kylie, there's a bathroom right there!" she whispered back pointing towards the door that was ajar by Sirius' end of the room.

"Yeah, but.... The seats are like.... up.... I don't want to have to _touch_ them!" she whispered back even quieter, but still retaining the harsh edge.

"Ugh, fine. Just let us out of this jail cell!" James whined.

"Homework before organizing huge, school-wide, Siruis Black & James Potter's famous, year end snowball fight." Lily said reluctantly.

"THAT was the password!!!" They all laughed, minus Lily .

"Yep."

"I could've guessed _that. _I just didn't think you'd be, of all people, as plain and uncreative as that."

"That was the point."

And without another word, she and the girls left to go put on their winter jackets, some cute boots, warm gloves, and a charmed trench coat.

Ten minutes later, they were all down in front of the castle. Once they were assembled outside, they decidedly were going to have two teams. James was the captain of Team Blue. After a very long debate of team color, in which, of course, Sirius won, Sirius was the captain of Team Hot Pink. What Sirius wants….. Sirius gets.

James, Peter, Frank, Kylie, Lauren, and Morgan were on Team Blue. The alleged Team Hot Pink were made up by Sirius (captain), Lily (co-captain), Remus, Logan, and Alice.

"So how about one team gets the forest and one the lake?" Lauren suggested.

"I CALL FOREST!" Sirius and James shouted at the same time.

"I SAID IT FIRST!"

"NUH UH!"

"UH HUH"

"NUH-" they started but were but off by Lily.

"How about Rock-Paper-Scissors?" she suggested.

Sirius deciding to play dumb asked what it was.

"It's a muggle game where you say rock! Paper! Scissors! Shoot! The person who has the winning hand, well wins. Paper beats rock. Scissors beat paper. Rock beats scissors. See? Simple." she explained to the numerous blank stares, and Sirius' fake one. She had taught him over the summer and he became a master. She suspected he cheated using Legimens.

"Ready?" she asked. With two nods they started.

* * *

**_Team Hot Pink_**

**"Ok guys, we need to spread out and recruit separately. Try and get all the firsties. They're the smallest and can get around the easiest without being seen. Second years and older kids work too. Just get anybody that you can. I know for a fact, being the enemy's best friend, that James and his team rely on strength as a team aspect. They may recruit others for decoys, but their offense is all strength. He even goes for Slytherins. I mean if you want to get all their slime on you, go ahead and recruit them, but after that they're your responsibility. Remember, even strength has to bow down to smarts sometimes. This means Ravenclaws and lots of them." He whispered to his team determinedly, eyes shining fiercely with mischief flecked through the stormy grey clouds.**

**"Right," said Lily, who to Sirius' displeasure got to be co-captain. While Sirius just got to be the main dictator, she got to be Head of the Defensive Team. Which so far included Logan and her. (He's a Charms nerd too!!)**

**"Sirius and I will stay here while you go recruit. I don't care how you get them to join. Confund them for all I care. Just get them here. We will do the prepping. The fort building, charming, and such. You all have to make sure when you get the people to agree, put a Disillusionment Charm on them so it looks like we have less people. If you see the enemy in the halls you'll look like you've been slacking in the recruit department. Then they'll get over condfident and not panic. Why don't we want them to panic you ask? Simple. If they panic that makes them feel like they have to recruit faster and they go into overdrive. Remember this and you'll do fine. Team Sirius if they ask. Go for the fan girls too. They'll throw themselves at you once they find out you're for Sirius' Team. We all know how much Sirius is loved." she said with minimal sarcasm and a roll of her eyes at the last line.**

**"Put your hands in." **

**"One, Two, Three TEAM HOT PINK!!!" They all shouted.**

* * *

_Team Blue_

"Ok we need to get as many fifth years and above as possible." James said to the team while they nodded, just as Sirius predicted.

"We'll need as many Gryffindors as we can get. I mean who else is going to go on offense? Hufflepuff? I don't think so. The only things you really need to know for recruits are NO FAN GIRLS, they scare the crap out of me sometimes to be honest, anddddd no Slytherins. Kylie can do the fort. Got it? Ok. Break!" he said and ran away to gather teamates before Kylie had time to refuse.

* * *

_**Back on Team Hot Pink**_

**"OK, you can do the charms, I'll build the fort. I researched this the other day specifically for the purpose of the game. I found this Spell that turns a snowball into an igloo on the outside, and an ICE CASTLE on the inside! Then we can make our own little lookout tower. Oh and just to let you know it's multpile stories. I'll block off the inner rooms and hallways of the castle so nobody gets lost or trapped. Bloody idiots. Well, yeah, that's my plan." he sighed then finished.**

**"Ok, well we need a Caterwauling Charm on the forest, so we can know if there are any intruders. Also on the fort. I'll put special charms on our teams so it doesn't go off for them. I'll put a temporary radar in their vision, so they'll be able to see intruding forces and teamates. I'll put a sort of temporary infallible charm on the fort too. Uuuummm. How about..... A Fidelius Charm!!!!!! We'll make you the secret keeper and you can stand at the entrance and tell them where the fort is!" she said excitedly.**

**"Can I wear a crown?" he asked with raised eyebrows.**

**"Sure, I guess. Can I wear a crown?"**

**"No."**

**"What why!?"**

**"You said James let you be queen before. It's my turn now."**

**"Fine. I'll wear a _tiara._" she countered.**

**Torn between amusement at Lily's tactics and keeping a straight face for the nature of the conversation, which was, of course, Sirius, he kept a straight face and grunted.**

**Smirking smugly at Sirius silence she left to go put the charms up. **

**"Fine! Then I get to wear a cape!" he shouted at her grinning madly.**

**"Mine gets to have fur on it!" she shouted back, now jogging backwards.**

**Sirius laughed and sent a tripping hex her way and she fell face first into the snow. Using her newly discovered abilities, she glared at him and made his pants fall down. Then she put a Permenant Sticking Charm on them so they stuck to his trainers. This caused him to trip and fall over. In the distance she saw everybody from Team Hot Pink coming thier way. She decided to be nice and turn his plain black silky boxers to black silky boxers with sparkling rainbows and unicorns. She charmed her initials LE to his behind.**

**Giggling, she picked herself up and ran away to go start the charms as she was going to do before Sirius messed with her. **

**Sirius just glared and kept trying to pull his pants up. Giving up, he just took off his shoes and pants and went pantless. Not before putting a warming charm on himself first. Otherwise it would have just been foolish AND embarrassing.**

**Once the group got back Remus asked the obvious question. **

**"Lily got to you?"**

**

* * *

**

_Team Blue_

"Ok team," he addressed as about 100 people came into view. They were mostly every Gryffindor minus third year and below, about 20 third and fourth year Slytherins, the sixth and seventh year Ravenclaws, about 30 Hufflepuffs, not the fan girls, minus one of two that snuck in, including his ex and her wanna be. So pretty much, it was the tough people. Minus a few of the Hufflepuff girls.

"We have the lake as our area! We would have the forest like most years, but Sirius won the game we used to determine who got the forest." he grumbled.

"Ok, now we need to build a fort. Any ideas?"

"Well, we could always just charm the snow in sections and shape it into a fort. Then of course charm the walls to stone." Said Caroline, a sixth year Gryffindor.

"Yeah, and we could put an Imperturable Charm on it, so they can't throw snowballs at it while we're inside." Triston, another sixth year said. He was in Gryffindor too, and on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team as James' fellow chaser. Triston was one of those people who you either loved or hated. James just happened to love the kid. He had attractive shaggy brown hair, not unlike a certain seventh year Gryffindor that fawned over their hair and had monthly hair counts, that fell elegantly into his sparkling hazel eyes.

"All great ideas, now we need something else.... Something big and flashy. What do you say Pete?"

"We could put up a huge banner of Sirius over there." he said chortling and pointing at Sirius jogging towards them with the rest of his team.

Every head in the crowd turned towards Sirius in his black, and now sparkly, boxers.

"Haha! I love it Wormtail! On his forehead we can write..... Dogbreath." he said grinning at an inside joke from fifth year when they learned of their animagus forms.

When people started looking at him skeptically for the feeble suggestion, he explained, "Inside joke."

Sirius stopped in his tracks, realizing he couldn't complain to James about Evans because he was the enemy! You can act all buddy buddy with enemies! What was he thinking! He cursed himself and ran back to the meeting place.

* * *

**Team Hot Pink**

**"Ok, we've got the fortress down, Sirius!" Lily called to the handsome man making snow angels in his underwear.**

**"Do we have ammo?" he shouted back.**

**"Well, nooo!" she called back.**

**"Then get ammo!"**

**"Ugh, fine!" with a swish of her wand she gathered a huge heap of snow then made it fall all on Sirius, drowing the poor lad in snow and ice.**

**She lifted it back up taking her time. Then shouted, "Oops! My bad!" with a cute little "Lily" shrug of her shoulders.**

**She formed it into a huge snowball, and transfigured a branch into the catapult. Her and some of the ravenclaws were mass producing snow cannons, while the younger years were getting snowballs, bringing them up to the turrets in the ice castle, and duplicating them. Some of the fourth and fifth years built magically altered "snowball guns". They were designed to shoot snow balls at, at least, 80 per minute.**

**When they were all finished mass producing their ammo they ended up with 23 snowball guns, 3625 snowballs, 6 catapults, and 102 snow cannons. They were walking into the middle of the feild, un-doing all of the disillusionment charms, for the rules briefing.**

**

* * *

**

Team Blue

"Ok, we got the fort done, the huge gigantic poster of Sirius in his new favorite underwear...., the ice on the lake reinforced so we don't have a repeat of last year, and the ammo, now we just need a strategy." James said to the team in their _enormous_ huddle where James was sitting on the ground in the middle.

"Well we could take all the pretty girls over to their fort and distract them. Then capture the guys." Renee's prissy friend Claudia said, who was just _dying_ to show off her "new chest".

"Erm- well I don't think that will work to well." James said shifting slightly away from Claudia.

"We could hide in the forest, then ambush them as a distraction while a smaller group attacks from the side. One or two people can go in though the back, attack the guards with ice balls, run into the fort, steal the flag, and come back to base." said Jade a shy fifth year Slytherin that was only fifth year Slytherin besides her friend Daisy that she dragged along.

"That is just.... long enough of a plan to work....." James trailed off. Then grinning like mad, he broke up the team into the specific teams. Jade and Caroline being in the small group that got to capture the flag. James, Frank, Peter, Kylie, Triston, the latter's best friend, and girlfriend, Cammie, some blokes from the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team, and a loner that nobody knew what to do with were the small group that ambushed from the sides. Then the half of the remaining team was thrown into the offensive line for the "Forest Group" the other half was going to set up around the fort guarding the flag.

* * *

_**Both Teams**_

Sirius and James, while still retaining their perfected "strut" as Lily called it, they led their teams with a determined face.

After another game of Rock-Paper-Scissors to determine who got to tell the rules, Siruis won.... Again.

Grumbling to himself, James walked back to his team and let Siruis get the attention.

"_Sonorus,"_ Sirius muttered under his neck, pointing his wand at his throat.

"Hello everyone! My name is Sirius Black and I will represent the winning team this fine winter day!" After many rude comments and gestures toward him he corrected himself.

"Ok, fine, _favorite_ for winning team,"

"Now most of you from past times already know the rules. But for those who haven't played before, here's the low down. The object of the game is to capture the flag and get as many prisoners as possible. The flag is worth 150 points. Each prisoner is worth 3 points," he explained hastily.

"There will be no wands allowed. They will all be placed in this big chest. _Expelliarmus!_" He shouted, surprising everyone before they had time to draw up a sheild all of about 225 wands came hurtling towards him. Putting up a sheild charm, it deflected them and they all fell haphazardly into the large chest in front of him. Each wand miraculously fell into a little wand shaped slot with it's owner's name labled on it. Sirius took a key and locked the chest the muggle way. He gave the key to Remus, and continued with his speech.

"There is now a big scoreboard up here." He said pointing to the huge magic generated scoreboard about 100 feet by 100 feet in legnth and width, stuck across the castle wall.

"You are allowed to push, shove, and all that fun stuff. You are also allowed to use magic items. Such as automated snowball guns, ice swords that freeze the opponent, and handcuffs. You are also allowed to use any magical means of getting you huge catapult to work as long as you already have the charms set up!" He said grinning broadly.

"Yeah, and that's about it! Five minutes on the clock to go hide, and set up. Then," he said, eyes catching an odd glint to them, "we battle."

Five minutes later the practically the whole school was in postition. Mostly people were in the forest and attacking postion for James' Team. Team Hot Pink on the other hand had all but 25 people going out on offense. Lily sat in a lawnchair in the middle of the field with a cheesy plastic tiara on her head. There was already a heat charm, sheild charm, and "attraction charm" on it. Lily took off her cloak, and pretty much everything else until she was left in a very "figure friendly" black bikini. Lily, being Lily, sat on her lawn chair with a book in her hand, feet propped up, and grinning like mad. Occastionally waving flirtatiously to the air just acting plain...... Lilyish.

Suddenly the radar in her vision kicked on. She saw almost every male on Team Blue in the radar's range, was coming unwillingly towards her due to the attraction charm.

Stupidly enough, they crossed Team Hot Pink's boundaries setting off the Cauterwauling Charm. Immediately guards popped up out of their hiding places to "arrest" the intruders.

Still in a daze from the alarm none of the guys resisted being carted out to prison. Sirius stood at the "mini gate" that he conjured for himself to stand behind. He welcomed prisoners with a hearty smile and the exact placement of the castle so they could get in**. (Lily put a Fidelius Charm on the castle)**

In less than five minutes all of James' offensive line was cramped in the tiny jail. The score currently stood:

**Team Hot Pink: 308 **

**Team Blue: 4_ (It's a pity point) _**

Sirius' Team was firing off their cannons and snowball machines very efficienctly. They were piling the whole other fortress with snow. Once this was completed the offensive line which was pretty much, Logan, Alice, a bunch of Ravenclaws, and some first years that kept acting like ninja warriors like Sirius taught them to do. They all piled in around the back of the fort. Logan knocked out the back guards, which were two fourth year Hufflepuffs.

Easily they captured the flag and ran back to their side.

Final score:

**Team Hot Pink: 458**

**Team Blue: 4 **

It was the fastest Siruis Black & James Potter's famous year end snowball fight the school had ever seen! It lasted all of ten minutes!!!!!! Though it was probably the most exciting, well thought out, and fun out of them all.

* * *

About an hour later, after all the wands were returned, forts vanished, catupults splintered for firewood, and flags burned in the fire the firewood from the catapults made, Lily and James were sitting on the stone steps of the castle just talking.

"You know James," Lily started resting her head on his shoulder contently, "You've changed a lot in the past month."

"I did it all for you, 'ya know." he admitted letting a small blush creep up his neck.

"Why were you being such a nice, sweet, caring guy over the summer, then you just got cold and cocky again. Now you're back to nice, sweet, and caring. Where are all of these mood swings coming from? If it were up to me, I'd say you had some sort of long term PMS or something."

"Woah, woah, woah," James said steadily moving away from Lily, looking at her like she was crazy, "I do _not_ have PMS! Guy's don't even _get _PMS. And, by the way, ew."

"Hmmm. Getting defensive are we?" she teased stepping closer to him.

"Sounds to me like somebody's being secretive!!!" she taunted in a sing song voice.

"You're going mad! Guys. Don't. Get. PMS." he said slowly.

"Oh, I know. Of course they don't. But I could swear this is long term PMS you're going through James. It's ok. I won't judge you and you're odd choices in surgical operations." she shrugged.

It took a second to kick in but James' eyes widened and yelled, very loudly might I add, "I DID** _NOT_** GET A SEX CHANGE!!!!!!!!"

**A/N: Ok, well here's another chapter for you! Hoped you liked it. The ending was my favorite part personally! Ok, now I Siriusly need reviews. I have a couple questions.**

**1) When should there be a dance?**

**Last minute Christmas Dance for Seventh Years?**

**Valentines Day Dance?**

**Spring Fling?**

**New Years Dance?**

**2) Do you think there should be any deaths of families? Like just to add some emphasis on Voldemort?**

**3) How do you like Triston???? I have an idea for him to come in, but I want to know if he's an OK character. Him and Cammie...... Though you know nothing about her really. She's a blonde..... Green eyes... yeah.**

**Well please review! I'll love you forever!!!!!!!!**


	25. Dumbledore's Humbug

"Hello James, Lily," Dumbledore said, nodding to each of the Heads in turn as they entered his office and stepped off the moving staircase.

"Hello Professor," Lily said politely.

"What's up Professor?" James asked, a little less courteous.

"Oh nothing much, just work. You wouldn't know much about it, James," Dumbledore said with his blue eyes twinkling. This amazed Lily, she'd never seen Dumbledore actually _tease_ a student before, "Actually I requested you two come here so I could ask you a question." Dumbledore said from behind his desk.

"Ask away, Professor."

"I was wondering if you two would be interested in throwing a Christmas Ball? I know it's terribly last minute, but I think it would be good for some house unity. Seeing you seventh years will be needing to stick together in these times of darkness more than ever once school ends. So, would you like to accept this offer?"

Lily's eyes lit up. All of the dress shopping wouldn't be going to waste after all.

"Of course, Professor!" Lily almost cried from excitement, while James just sat in the chair which had his name engraved in it laughing silently at Lily's excited face.

"I mean, yes, Professor Dumbledore, I think it would be a wonderful idea." Lily said in a more subdued manner, now openly blushing.

"Well this ball will only be for seventh years, seeing as there is such little notice. It is to be held on the 21st of December. It can't be to much before Christmas or the teachers will lose more and more class time, and it can't be after since most students will be home for break. All decisions are to go through the other prefects, who will help you organize the hall. Other than that your imaginations are to run free. Any questions?"

"Yeah, erm- do the Heads have to go together?" James asked, trying to hide the hopefulness from his voice.

Deciding to humor James he responded, "I think the situation seems fit, so I would have to say yes, yes they do." James smirked to himself.

"Well thank you Professor, if that is all may we be leaving now?" Lily asked.

"Oh, and you might want to schedule another Hogsmeade trip in the next two weeks so whoever decided not to listen to the supply list may get what they need for this ball. Also you might find when you get back to Gryffindor Tower all of your personal belongings have gone missing. I'm sure you and you're friends will be able to find it sooner or later... Now off you go. Goodnight." Dumbledore added mysteriously.

"Yes, sir. Goodnight." James said walking out of the office with a spring in his step humming profusely, even though he was thoroughly confused. He had a date with Lily Evans! _Finally! _It was the day he had been waiting for all his life! Well, technically not, it wasn't really a date, she didn't say yes herself, and they weren't having an all out snog fest yet. _Eh, details_.

Lily had to keep up a steady jog to stay in line with his long strides.

"What do you think he meant when he said that when we get back to the tower all our stuff will be gone?" Lily asked curiously, just loud enough to drown out his horribly off-tune humming.

"Hm? Oh, I suspect he meant all our stuff is gone and we have to find it by tomorrow unless we want to get a T on our Transfiguration, Charms, DADA, Herbology, and Potions essays tomorrow."

"Crap! I forgot about homework! How could I forget about homework? I'm Head Girl! Head Girls aren't supposed to forget about homework!Come on James we have to go find our stuff now!" She grabbed James be the hand and ran all the way up three flights of stairs, down seventeen corridors, and a secret passage way without stopping until they got in front of the Fat Lady and her friend Violet drinking merrily.

"Humbug," Lily gasped at the painting.

She ran up the stairs to the girls dorm, dragging James along to fast for the staircase to change and burst into her room.

Decidedly all her stuff was there.

"What! Dumbledore just told us that all our stuff would be gone." Lily pouted, hating herself for running so much just to find her belongings exactly where they should be, down to the sugar quill she had been sucking on just that morning sitting on her bedpost.

Suddenly James started laughing uncontrollably.

"Looks like we've just been pranked by Dumbledore!" James spluttered through his laughter, "Well, you have anyways. I suppose he knew you'd drag me along though."

"What?" Lily asked defeated.

"He was just pulling our legs that whole time! He sure is a good liar, I should ask him where he learned so well. Maybe he could teach Peter. That'd save us so many detentions." James said in true thought.

"Ugh, come on Potter, let's get back downstairs before people start thinking the wrong things."

"Oh back to last names again are we? Well then Miss _Evans_ what may these 'wrong things' be that you speak of?"

"Oh you know what I mean." Lily said truly starting to get aggravated by James' childish antics.

"Oh, no I must say I don't. Enlighten me O Wise One."

"Stuff." she said plainly.

"What kind of stuff?

"The kind of stuff that both you and I know you know, but are telling me you don't know because your a prat."

"Are you sure your not just accusing me of knowing stuff I don't know, because one thing I know we both know is that you know you're a Know-It-All?" James said just to rile her up, "And I am not a prat!"

"I am not a Know it All! And you are too!"

"Oh yeah prove it." he challenged.

"Ok I will. I'll ask anyone here."

"Lily we're the only ones in the room."

"Oh, well, now we're leaving." she said pushing James out of her room and onto the stairs which promptly, this time, turned into a slippery slope.

Screaming, James landed headfirst on the ground. Stifling a groan he got up and glared at Lily.

"Oops, I didn't know that would happen." She said innocently enough, stressing the word 'know'.

Slipping down the slide gracefully Lily collected herself and looked for a victim to pounce on. Finding a small second year, she ran up to them with a slightly frightening look in her eyes and asked sweetly, "Do you think I'm a know it all?"

Thinking it was the right thing to say the second year uncertainly nodded her head yes.

Lily's brow furrowed.

"So what did the second year say?"

Lily grunted as a response and stalked back up the stairs.

A minute later she came back down and plopped in front of the fire right next to James.

"Back so soon?"

"Where are our friends?" she asked bluntly.

Looking around the common room slowly scanning for the heads of his room-mates he turned back to Lily and said, "Hmmm, I have absolutely no idea. Sirius is probably in detention for pulling a prank on McGonagall, Remus is probably out snogging Monroe somewhere, finally, Peter is off with that chick your best friend hooked him up with, Frank is with Alice in detention for blowing up three cauldrons, he's rubbish at Potions, worse than Peter, and Peter's not even in that class, and Logan is off with Kylie somewhere in a broom closet?" he guessed blindly.

"Oh," she said faintly, "Well then we'll just have to start working on dance preparations!" Lily squealed excitedly.

"Oi, this is going to be one long night."

* * *

**A/N: Okay, this was my shortest chapter ever, I think including chapter one. Just a filler chapter because I was demanded one, "or else" by my best friend. So here it is. Now just press that charming little button down there that says "Review"! You know you wanna!**

****

~Brittney


	26. Date Swappers

"Morgan _wake up! _We have to get to Hogsmeade! We're going to miss the carriages!" Kylie shrieked at Morgan's lump of a sleeping figure.

"Morgan!"

"She won't wake up!" Kylie yelled at Lily.

"She never wakes up," said Lauren from her own bedside.

"Well then," Lily said walking over to her friend's bed, "We'll just make her."

"Come over here and help me push the bed away from the wall." Lily told Lauren.

"Ok, one, two, three, push!"

Once they finally got it far enough away from the wall to have one of them squeeze in there they heaved and tipped all the contents off the bed.

"What did you guys just do to by bed?" asked Morgan from the doorway eating an apple casually.

"Where were you! If your there We were supposed to leave for Hogsmeade an hour ago! I still have to get my dress for the dance tomorrow!" screamed Kylie.

"I'm not going. I already have a dress. Were you just yelling at my pillow?" she said simply walking over to her bed an magically re-righting it.

"Ugh!"

Kylie stormed out the door most likely jogging down to go get a carriage.

"So are you guys going?" Morgan asked.

"I don't have a date." Lily said.

"Sirius said he needed to go dress robe shopping then get supplies for the latest prank, so I didn't really want to stand there being ignored the whole day." Lauren said.

"So it's just us? Alice is with Frank, Kylie just stormed off to meet up with Logan and torture him for hours in a dress shop, and the Marauders are doing who knows what in Hogsmeade."

"We should have that sleepover we were talking about now! We could do eachothers nails and everything for tomorrow!" Lily said excitedly.

"Sounds good to me. What about you Morgan?"

"I don't know about you, but I'm going back to bed."

Morgan skipped the short length to her bed, flopped down, and pulled the hangings shut.

Lily and Lauren rolled their eyes and went about planning their day.

* * *

"Does a green jacket match grey pants?" Peter asked uncertainly from the changing room.

"Er- I don't know mate. I'm not a girl." Remus said.

"Well I think it does- I'm not sure though." James responded.

"You could wear green and red and look like Santa!" Sirius shouted just a little bit to loudly.

"That's a great idea, mate! Why didn't I think about that!?" Peter shouted from behind the door. You could hear the banging, clanging, and the occasional 'ouch' behind the door, but a couple seconds later Peter came out from the dressing room in an emerald green tux and maroon pants on.

"That's the one! You have to buy that Pete!" James said excitedly.

The boys went at that for about an hour before they went to Zonko's to get some fresh, non orderly, air.

* * *

"So girls, what do your dresses look like?" Sirius asked at lunch the next day.

Just as Kylie was going to prattle on about her dress Alice slapped a hand over her mouth saying suavely, "You'll just have to wait and see boys."

With a pretty smile towards a mock glaring Sirius she went even farther saying, "Come on girls. It's already two. We have to go start getting ready."

"What? We have five hours, why do we have to-" Alice slapped her other hand over Lauren's mouth.

"Becauuusssseeee. It's just something we have to do. You'll thank me later."

With that she skipped away towards Gryffindor Tower with four girls walking behind the peculiar acting Alice.

Once they got to the dorm Lauren asked, "Why did we have to get up here so early. What are we supposed to do for five hours!"

"Oh, I don't know. I just wanted to mess with Sirius."

"Aw Alice! I wasn't finished eating my steak and kidney pie."

"Trust me Lily, James wont want to kiss those lips smelling like that."

"We will not be kissing!" Lily exclaimed with a playful smack to Alice's arm.

"We will be opening the dance and then patrolling around to make sure everything is in pristine condition."

Morgan spoke for the first time since their discussion about Muggle microwaves at lunch, "Yeah Lily, and I'm Santa Claus." she said with a hearty snort.

Lily just blushed and walked to the bathroom, closing the door behind her and locking it, yelling, "I call shower first!" Then all the other girls went over and started banging on the door. Lily always took an hour long shower. Make that four hours they had to get ready.

*******************************

Four and a half hours later they were all in their gowns.

"Well, I have to go. James and I have to be there early." Lily said walking towards the door nervously.

"We'll all come with." Alice said nodding towards the girls.

Lily led the way walking very slowly trying not to break her ankle going down the stairs in her high heels.

She peeked around the corner seeing James sitting on the couch waiting for her with a white Lily in his hands. When he saw her his jaw dropped to the ground, and Lily could've sworn she saw some drool.

Lily was wearing a dark black dress the hugged her figure closely then fanned out loosely on the bottom all the way down the the floor. The sparkles glinted in the light of the fire lighting up James', now slack with astonishment, face. She had used a tanning charm on her skin to give it a healthy glow. Lauren had done her hair up in an elegant sort of way that let her hair stay down. There were sparkled bobby pins pulling her hair out of her face, splattered throughout her hair. She had on little make-up and went for a natural look spare the smoky eyes and mascara.

James himself was looking very handsome in an all black suit with a white tie, deciding to actually match rather than go like Peter who actually bought the red and green suit. He attempted to tame his unruly hair, failing miserably. He also had a white Lily in his outstretched hand. He would have looked really handsome, but the drooling kinda lost the effect.

When James finally managed to speak he said, "yolokkbeauagkhfyl," or something that sounded like that anyway. Lily took it as a "You look beautiful," and laughed her beautiful laugh. She pulled James' off the couch and led him out the Common Room still in a daze.

When Sirius saw Lauren he couldn't believe his eyes. They about popped out of his head. Lauren was sporting a silky, bright red, strappy dress that fell down to her knees. She wore red heels to pull the outfit together. Her hair was up in a twist with a few pieces falling to her face. She had on some bright red eyeshadow, black eyeliner, mascara, and foundation.

Sirius had decided on a grey suit to match his stormy eyes. He was wearing a bright red tie that had blinking Christmas Trees on it to get into the spirit of his favorite holiday. He shaved two days ago therefore having a bit of stubble outlining his jaw line. His hair was freshly straightened and he too had a flowers in his hand, only they were mountain laurels.

Morgan was next to go down. She was beaming ear to ear. Remus had asked her to go about three hours ago. Well he sorta yelled it up the stairwell, but it really had the same effect. Actually it was Sirius who yelled it saying it was Remus who really wanted the date. Still. He was her date.

She was wearing a dark purple ballgown dress that made her eyes simply _pop_. She looked like a princess to say the least. It was strapless sparkling and outlined in a kohl color. Her mascara perfectly parted each eyelash, and her lightly transparent lip gloss had her whole face shining. She too had put a charm on her skin making it glow beautifully. Her deep chocolate brown hair was softly curled with her side bangs straightened. She looked like a heart break waiting to happen.

Remus almost fainted when she entered the room. She looked positively dazzling to say the least. His dark kohl colored jacket matched her eyeliner perfectly, oddly enough. He had on a traditional white tie, and the ever so popular shiny black shoes. He was freshly shaven and smelled of cologne and soap. He was waiting at the bottom of the staircase with a bouquet of beautiful purple roses.

Alice had on a flirty looking midnight blue halter dress. The strap in the halter dress was sparkled and stunning. It had a silk band right under the bust the tied into a bow in the back. The dress was knee length and shimmered slightly. She had on dark blue flip flops with sparkles on the straps. Her eyeshadow was a lightly done dark blue, over and outlined eyelid done in brown. Her hair was parted to the left and swept up into a pony tailed and curled ends pinned up in the back.

Frank and Logan both were sporting black tuxes. Logan with a red and green striped tie, and Frank with a silky blue tie. Their hair was neatly combed and their scents heavenly. They were both waiting for their dates patiently by the fire. Frank had stumbled slightly when he saw Alice, as did Logan with Kylie.

Kylie was wearing a pearly pink ball gown that reached the floor as well as a beaded shawl. She had in light pink highlights that contrasted nicely with her jer black hair. She had on light black eyeliner with gold shimmer eyeshadow. Her white heels made her almost trip as she went down the stairs wobbily. Her hair was straightened past her shoulders then curled slightly at the ends.

*******************************

"And now our Head Boy and Girl will honor us with a dance." McGonagall said, smiling slightly.

The spotlight was on Lily and James in the center of the dance floor and they were swaying to the music perfectly in sync.

Lily had her head on James' chest and sighed happily.

"What?" he asked chuckling slightly.

"Nothing. It's just that I've had a really good time tonight. I had no idea you could dance."

"Yeah, well four summers of dance classes usually does the trick."

"That must've been harsh."

"No actually I love dancing. Well with you anyways. My instructor was this hairy old lady with a huge mole the size of London! Ugh- Bad memories. You don't want to know."

Other couples had started filling in the dance floor by now.

"Really? You don't look like much the dancer. Anyway, I'm a terrible dancer. Well ballroom anyway. If you weren't leading.... It'd be a disaster."

James laughed at this. "I doubt that, love. I'm sure you're a divine dancer. I'm just not going to stop leading in case you were right." he said with his lopsided grin.

"You know, this is nice. Just talking with you. I like it."

"Me too."

Just as they were leaning in for a kiss Sirius came up and asked, "Switch dates?"

Lily sighed and said, "Sure Sirius."

"So, I see you were about to bust a move on Prongs over there." Sirius said smugly while twirling her elegantly.

"I was not!"

"Yeah, sure. You just keep on believing that, love."

"But what-" Lily didn't get to finish her sentence as she was twirled right into Remus' arms.

"Hello Lily." He said pleasantly.

"Hey Remus, but me and Sirius were just talking and he really confused me and-"

"I know."

"What-"

"Official Marauder date swapping thing. We know everything. Well except James. He doesn't have a clue why we're doing this. But I think you do."

"Remus, will you please tell me what's going on."

"We're dancing."

"Yes, yes we are. I mean-"

"I know what you mean."

"Then why can't you tell me?"

"That wouldn't be any fun now would it!?" he exclaimed happily looking younger than he had in ages.

"Can you give me a hint?" she asked trying to placate him.

"I can give you advice. Dance with as many people as you can. Have fun. Oh, and don't drink the punch. Sirius spiked it."

"I think I might need some by the time the night ends." she said warily.

"Remus, thanks I-" again she was cut of by one of those darn twirls....

"Hey, Lily."

"Hey Peter."

"So how's your night been so far?"

"Oh you know. I've had three dates so far. You're number four. I have been confused out of my mind by two of them, and almost embarrassed myself in front of the third. And you?"

"Oh it's been great. I need to talk to you though."

"Let me guess. It's a Marauder date switch thing."

"How'd you know?" he asked looking a bit put out.

"Remus told me."

"Oh, well, in that case... I just wanted to tell you that you need to follow your heart and shoot for the moon."

"Isn't the saying shoot for the stars?"

"Yeah, but do you really want to get burned into a bazillion tiny pieces of ash and melted goo once you reach where you want to be?"

"Erm, no, not really."

"Well then there's your answer."

"I'm not sure what that means but thanks Peter. I'm really thirsty though. I need some punch."

Lily walked over to the punch bowl staring at it warily. She knew it was spiked but she was just so thirsty!

'_Well I just wont drink much,'_ Lily thought to herself.

She took a slight sip and almost recoiled at the taste. It was strong!

Oh well, she was thirst and if she wasn't smart enough to have back up punch, like every other dance, she was just going to have to face the consequences.

Lily stood there tapping her foot to the music playing from over head then her attention snapped to a mop of black hair standing on stage grinning her all time favorite Marauder's smirk.

James was standing up there with the microphone. Oh god. James with a microphone. This wasn't going to be good. Or was it?

James cleared his throat into the mic, "Hello everyone. As you all know, I'm, your Head Boy, James Potter!" A random round of applause sounded causing James to blush slightly, though he swears it's the hot, non-existent, spotlight.

"Thank you, thank you. Well I would just like to introduce the most popular wizarding band on the planet! The Hopping Hob-Goblins!" James yelled into the microphone dramatically. More applause sounded throughout the hall echoing everywhere creating an amazing effect.

"Ok well, _coincidentally,_their lead female vocalist has a sore throat! Sooooo, do we have any good singers in the crowd who'd like to come up here?" A couple of ditzy Hufflepuffs and some of the it girls from Ravenclaw were jumping up and down in their heels going, "Ooh! Ooh! Pick me!" like a little kid in muggle grade school.

"Nobody!?" James asked astonished, "How about your Head Girl Miss Lily Evans!" All the guys in the crowd started cheering wildly and Sirius started to do the monkey creating a big circle around him of people afraid of him spazzing out even worse. The girls who wanted to be chosen stopped jumping and started scowling. The more reasonable girls were clapping politely, well except Lily's friends who started screaming in their "man voices".

The lead singer took the mic from James and said, "Thanks James. Now where is this Miss Lily Evans?"

Lily shyly raised her hand and started walking up to the stage in the center of the dance floor.

"Well Ms. Evans, come on down! Do you have any special requests?"

"Do you know My Life Would Suck Without You by Kelly Clarkson?" Lily asked sweetly.

"Well that isn't one of our songs but I guess for a pretty girl like you we can make a few exceptions." the lead singer said in what he thought was a suave way.

The guitars tuned themselves and the band started playing.

**Guess this means you're sorry  
You're standing at my door  
Guess this means you take back  
All you said before  
Like how much you wanted  
Anyone but me  
Said you'd never come back  
But here you are again**

By this time Sirius, Remus, and Peter had somehow gotten out Muggle lighters and started waving them back and forth through the air causing several people to step back in caution.

**'Cause we belong together now, yeah  
Forever united here somehow, yeah  
You got a piece of me  
And honestly,  
My life (my life) would suck (would suck) without you**

**Maybe I was stupid for telling you goodbye  
Maybe I was wrong for tryin' to pick a fight  
I know that I've got issues  
But you're pretty messed up too  
Either way, I found out I'm nothing without you**

**'Cause we belong together now, yeah  
Forever united here somehow, yeah  
You got a piece of me  
And honestly,  
My life (my life) would suck (would suck) without you**

**Being with you  
Is so dysfunctional  
I really shouldn't miss you  
But I can't let you go  
Oh yeah**

**'Cause we belong together now, yeah  
Forever united here somehow, yeah  
You got a piece of me  
And honestly,  
My life (my life) would suck (would suck) without you**

**'Cause we belong together now, yeah  
Forever united here somehow, yeah  
You got a piece of me  
And honestly,  
My life (my life) would suck (would suck) without you**

**My Life Would Suck Without You: Kelly Clarkson**

**A/N: I know the song just came out and all, but I figured that it related to the story enough to put it in there. XD**

The funny thing was, the whole time she was staring at James. She was facing the audience and yet she couldn't look away from those misty hazel eyes that locked into hers.

"Wow, looks like we have a pretty good singers in the school!" The lead singer said mocking the Marauder's imitation of Lily's voice midway through her performance, breaking Lily and James out of the reverie.

The lead singer continued talking while Lily snuck off of stage to find one of her friends. Eventually she found Lauren and Sirius and decided to stick with them for a while.

"Do you mind if I steal your boyfriend for a bit?" Lily giggled.

"He's all yours." Lauren panted as she staggered her tired legs toward the punch table.

During one of the faster dances about an hour later Sirius just randomly starts babbling to Lily, "He really likes you 'ya know."

"He who?" Lily asked innocently.

"I think you know he who,"

"Really? I don't think me and he who have met."

"Oh trust me. You two have met. Even kissed maybe."

"He told you!"

"Ah, so we do know who we're talking about here, and when did you two kiss and why didn't I know!?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Lily said stubbornly trying to hide her growing smile.

"Well hypothetically this "he" happens to be old Jamesie poo over there, and hypothetically of couse, you and Jamsie poo have kissed and neither of you told me," Sirius paused for a fake glare directed at Lily, "andddd he really likes you. I mean reallyyy likes you. Seriously, no pun intended. He can't wait forever 'ya know Lils." He added softly.

"I-" she started but was cut off from a booming voice coming from center stage.

"Well fellow seventh years," James started, "it's about eleven o'clock and old Dumbly-dorr says that we have to blow this popsicle stand in exactly thirteen minutes! I think we have time for one last dance. Lily? If you would give me the honor?" He asked outstretching his hand to a very red Lily who was now wading her way through her peers.

When she stepped foot on stage the band started playing a slow song. Lily had the time of her life tonight, and this was the perfect end to it. Her head was on James' shoulder, her arms around his neck. His arms on her hips and head resting atop of hers breathing in her winterberry shampoo.

They swayed slowly to the music outshining every other couple who just looked clumsy compared to their grace.

The song ended and James went and whispered something into the drummer's ear. He nodded and took the microphone. Again.

"Ok, well before we wrap it up I want to make an annoucement. Well not really an annoucement, but a question. One I haven't asked in quite some time actually."

He turned to face Lily and smiled her favorite heart melting smile, "Evans, will you go out with me?" he breathed.

**A/N: That's a wrap people! Ok I want quite a few reviews before I update again! I already have most of the chapter ready. I'll post when I get some reviews!**

**Fun Facts: **

In the average lifetime, a person will walk the equivalent of 5 times around the equator.

Odontophobia is the fear of teeth.

The 57 on Heinz ketchup bottles represents the number of varieties of pickles the company once had

According to suicide statistics, Monday is the favored day for self-destruction.

The first known contraceptive was crocodile dung, used by Egyptians in 2000 B.C.

Now that that's covered would you mind pressing that cute little button down there that says "Review this Story/Chapter"?

-Sirius' Sweetheart


	27. Of Fainting, Calming Draughts, and Boys

_When she stepped foot on stage the band started playing a slow song. Lily had the time of her life tonight, and this was the perfect end to it. Her head was on James' shoulder, her arms around his neck. His arms on her hips and head resting atop of hers breathing in her winterberry shampoo._

_They swayed slowly to the music outshining every other couple who just looked clumsy compared to their grace._

_The song ended and James went and whispered something into the drummer's ear. He nodded and took the microphone. Again._

_"Ok, well before we wrap it up I want to make an announcement. Well not really an announcement, but a question. One I haven't asked in quite some time actually."_

_He turned to face Lily and smiled her favorite heart melting smile, "Evans, will you go out with me?" he breathed._

* * *

Lily's heart skipped a beat. Did he really just ask that? In front of all of their peers and their _teachers?_

James was looking at Lily expectantly like he'd been waiting this moment for half his life, which he sort of was.

Lily stared deep into the depths of James' warm hazel eyes. They told her everything she needed to know.

She walked with a certain elegance and grace that made her seem all the more beautiful despite her clumsiness. As she walked, the hall was silent other than a few jealous girls whispering about how she was a slut and had obviously set this up.

She reached out her hand to caress his face, she breathed so softly she could barely hear herself, "Yes," and kissed him in front of the whole school. You could hear Sirius' wolf whistles in the back round above all the cheers. Even the teachers were smiling and clapping politely as they kissed.

Truth be told, the kiss was with Lily doing most of the work, for James was still in shock.

When the two broke apart both their eyes were a little dazed, but for different reasons.

Lily was thinking to herself how much James had changed over the years and wondering how she could hate such an amazing guy in the first place. Then again maybe she loved him all along but just didn't recognize this kind of emotion and misread herself.

James on the other hand. . . Well James was thinking, 'Bloody hell! Lily just kissed me! In front of the whole school! Well I think she kissed me anyway. Maybe it was a dream. . . I hope not, but if it was the was the best dream kiss ever. Lily is a pretty good snogger, Sirius would approve.' he touched his lips and got Lily's sticky cherry lip gloss on his fingers. He knew it wasn't a dream.

When they broke apart James swayed on the spot a little, stumbled, eyes fluttering, and--- James Potter fainted. On stage. Right onto the floor. With the whole school watching.

The whole school was silent again except Lily and Sirius who were laughing quite openly at the scene.

The band was in the back round, the rest of their year in the audience, teachers to the side, then there was Lily standing next to James' limp body laying on the stage, spread-eagle.

Sirius hopped on stage shared a come-on-you-know-you-wanna-help-me-carry-him-up-four-floors kinda look. Lily rolled her eyes at Sirius' silent antics but obliged anyways.

Sirius grabbed the upper half of this body while Lily got his legs. The whole school stared at them like they were bonkers as they drug James' unconscious body out of the great hall quickly and quietly like they'd been training for this their whole life. In formal wear of course.

Which was preposterous.

Maybe.

. . .

**Thirty seconds later**

"UGH! What the bloody hell does this boy eat!?" Lily exclaimed to Sirius, her trust sidekick _and_ partner in crime.

"Well lets see," Sirius said, thinking, "this morning for breakfast he had three waffles, five eggs, two biscuits, some bacon, two glasses of pumpkin juice, and a pancake with a mountain of butter and a syrup stream. Then for lunch he had-"

"Sirius! It was rhetorical! Ugh. I kissed though lips?" Lily said disgusted and wiped her mouth off on her arm.

"Yep!" Sirius said cheerfully while attempting to skip down the hallways, pathetically dragging a cursing and muttering Lily along.

"You know Sirius, you have taught me a very valuable lesson today." Lily said smiling up at her friend.

"And what may that be Lily, love?"

"Boys are like human garbage disposals." She said matter of factly with a nod to back it up.

Suddenly Sirius' barking laughter could be heard bouncing off the stone walls throughout the corridor. Soon Lily's laugh joined him. They walked up three stories like this, high on their own laughter.

By the time they got to the hospital wing Lily had dropped James' legs seventeen times, he fell down the stairs once, his head got banged on the floor and a suit of armor by Sirius, and if he was faking being knocked out before, well, he wasn't now.

They were still giggling and snorting like two nut cases as they walked into the infirmary and Madam Pomfrey found them. She shrieked shrilly when she saw the three teens on the floor. Two laughing their heads off and one unconscious.

She levitated James up into one of the beds and tried to fix them up, but she couldn't concentrate on her healing while Sirius and Lily were making all that noise, so, naturally, she silenced them with a flick of her wand. They were still falling over themselves, just quietly was all. At the time that was all that mattered to Madam Pomfrey.

After she had patched up James' bumps and bruises he acquired on the way up to the Hospital Wing.

Sighing Pomfrey went and got two doses of calming drought and force fed them to Lily and Sirius.

"What were we laughing about in the first place?" Sirius asked dumbly while they were walking back up to the tower.

"Oh you know-"

"Um, no I don't."

"Well you should."

"You're the smart one."

"Why thank you."

"You're _supposed_ to say, 'No Sirius, _you're _the most devilishly handsome, clever, and smartest person in the entire universe."

"Fine. Sirius your the most devilishly handsome, clever, and smartest human being in a two inch radius of yourself. How about that?"

"What's a radius?"

Lily smacked her forehead.

"I rest my case." she said smugly.

"Well if you're so smart miss smarty pants then why didn't you answer my question?"

"I was pausing for the dramatic effect!" she exclaimed indignantly and blatantly lying to her boyfriend's best friend.

"Oh yeah, sure. That's what they all say."

"Whatever Sirius."

"Whatever Lily, love."

After a few moments of comfortable silence Sirius spoke up again.

"Lily?"

"Yes, Sirius?" she inquired, curiously.

"Can I tell you a secret?"

"Erm- that's a bit random, but sure. I promise I won't tell."

Sirius sighed and took a deep breath.

"My brother's a death eater." he said in a surprisingly sad tone of voice.

Lily stopped in her tracks. "What?!"

"My brother's a-" but Lily cut him off.

"No, no, I heard you. I just don't believe it."

"Are you calling me a liar, Evans!?" Sirius yelled, looking furious.

"No! No! Sirius, I mean, you're brother's in his sixth year. Just are you sure?" she asked worriedly. She sat down and leaned against the wall in a more comfortable position and Sirius joined her with his head in his hands.

Another dejected sigh.

"Yeah. Positive. Dead positive. He wrote me a letter last summer, bragging about it. _Bragging_, Lily!" he said with a pained look in his eyes.

"He's my little brother! I'm supposed to protect him, be a role model for him. . . I tried to be there for him when father beat him after he was talking to me after I was disowned. He pushed me away, though. Pushed me away like he would a Muggle Born. . . No offense intended."

"None taken, love." Lily said softly.

"It's just that. . . I feel as if it's my fault. He's only sixteen! He's going to get killed out there and it's going to be all my fault. I wasn't a good enough big brother. I feel like I'm worthless just like my mother always tells me."

"Sirius Black. Look at me. No, _look_at me," Lily said pulling his chin up to look at her with her forefinger, "Now don't talk like that. You and I both know your mother is a bitchy old hag with never ending PMS," she waited for a chuckle to escape Sirius' lips before she continued, "Now you were shunned from your family when you got into Gryffindor. Now don't deny that that was the best thing that ever happened to you. You met James, Remus, Peter, Frank, and Logan, who I _know_ would punch you in the face for saying you were worthless if they were here right now.

"You met amazing friends you never would have gained if you had been in Slytherin. Sure your brother would still be talking to you, as would your family, but he'd still be joining the Death Eaters. You can't change fate. You can fight it all you want, but it doesn't change it."

"Thanks, Lily. You're right. My mother is on never ending PMS and she's already been through menopause. Isn't that just dandy. At least I moved out and don't have to put up with it anymore."

Lily had momentarily forgotten Sirius had gone to move in with James the summer of their fifth year.

"No problem Sirius. If you ever need to talk, you know I'll be here to listen." she said caringly.

She slowly stood up straightening her dress and held out a hand for Sirius to grab onto.

Sirius grinned and took her hand. When he stood up he enveloped Lily in a huge bear hug.

He whispered in her hair, smelling of that same winterberry shampoo James had smelt earlier that night, "Thank you, Lily, love. . . For everything."

Inhaling the musky scent that Sirius carried she responded, "Anytime."

A mischievous smile crossed the handsome man's features and he lifted Lily up in a fireman's lift cackling like a mad man.

"Oh, not again," Lily moaned, "SIRIUS BLACK! PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!"

"NEVERRRRRR LILY, LOVE!" the handsome man laughed as he ran down the corridor bumping right into the Fat Lady causing him and Lily to topple over.

And... another laughing episode began. Only this time, no amount of Madam Pomfrey's extra strength Calming Draught could calm them down.

* * *

**A/N: Well I was holding out on posting because I didn't get that many reviews--- But I felt now was the time to post.**

**So this time I want at least fifteen reviews before I post again. I KNOW it's not that hard. You just have to click that little button down there. I know it's cute. Don't resist it. Okay so here are your five new RANDOMMMM facts.**

**1) **The United States has never lost a war in which mules were used

**2) **The word "nerd" was first coined by Dr. Seuss in "If I Ran the Zoo."

**3) **When snakes are born with two heads, they fight each other for food

**4) **Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least 6 feet (2 m) away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush

**5) **The earliest recorded case of a man giving up smoking was on April 5, 1679, when Johan Katsu, Sheriff of Turku, Finland, wrote in his diary "I quit smoking tobacco." He died one month later.

**xoxo**

**Britt**


	28. Snape's Suprise

The morning before everybody went home for the holidays the seventh year Gryffindors trekked, down the numerous floors, into the Great Hall. Though along the way three suits of armor were knocked into (by Morgan's zombie-like body for it was still before noon), a first year was tripped over (by Peter), and seven Slytherins had extreme Cheering Charms cast on them courtesy of Lily.

"I'm in a good mood this morning!" Lily exclaimed happily as she slid into her seat at the Gryffindor table.

"And why is that Lil," Sirius asked, also in a good mood.

"Well my mum's supposed to be writing back to me and seeing as it's the last day before break I'm expecting to get her letter back." she explained.

"Well that's cool, Lily. Oh tell your mum I said hi too." Logan said beside her.

"Um, you've never _met_ my mum, Logan. She doesn't know you."

"Well that's okay. I can still say hi to her if I want to."

"Yes, but _why?" _Lily asked, perplexed.

"That's not the question. The question is _why not?_"

"Whatever, Logan." Lily laughed with a roll of her sparkling green eyes and reached for the pancakes.

James slapped her hand away from the pancakes.

"They're _my_ pancakes," he said childishly, "Mine." he repeated.

"James, they're for the whole house. Oh and look at that! I'm part of the house. Now give me a pancake." she demanded.

"No! They're mine. I'm part of the house too." he said pulling the pancakes towards him.

"And I'm Head Girl, so I can give you detention for not giving me a pancake."

"And I'm Head Boy and I can give you a detention for giving me a detention when I clearly did nothing wrong, according to the Rule Book."

"But you let Sirius have some."

"No I let _Harold_ have some," seeing the confused look on her face he reminded her, "We've been through this already, love. Sirius' stomach's name is Harold."

"Ugh. Fine. You let _Harold_ have some. Now why not me?"

"Because they're mine!"

"James just give me a bloody pancake!"

"Umm-- no."

"Fine I'll just go get one from Jesse." she said smugly making a move to get up.

"Jesse the sixth year Hufflepuff?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"No! You can't do that. He has a crush on you!"

"So, you're my boyfriend and you won't even give me a pancake!"

"Oh right. I am aren't I?"

"Ummm- yeah, you are."

"Wellll since you're my girlfriend I guess that I could give you one. . ." he said reluctantly handing her a pancake.

"Thank you! Now why is everybody being so bloody difficult this morning?"

"What was that, Lil'? Lauren asked from a few seats down.

"It's just that James and Logan are being _very _difficult this morning."

"Oh, well, whatever you say. I hadn't noticed."

Lily just groaned and put her head down on the table. I guess nobody noticed she was fighting for her breakfast with her boyfriend. Odd.

Just then something landed on Lily's head.

Lily shrieked loudly and her head jerked up from it's resting space on the table.

There standing on her pancake was Artemis with her mother's reply tied around her leg, blinking at her with big brown eyes.

Lily sighed, mourning the loss of her pancake that she fought so hard over, and detached the letter from her owl's leg.

Artemis nipped her finger affectionately, drank some of Remus' juice and flew off to the Owlry.

"So what's it say? I bet it says 'Hi, Logan! You're my favorite of Lily's friends even though I've never met you.'" Logan said jokingly.

"How about I just read it aloud? Kay?" Lily said.

_Dear Lily,_

_Oh I've missed you so much! You're father and Petunia say hi. Well... Only your father. But I'm sure that if Pet got the chance she'd say hello as well. She's off with that Vernon fellow right now. Now you're coming home for Christmas right? You know you can invite your friends over if you want. There is more than plenty of room! Oh that would be delightful! Tell Sirius I send my love. I've been meaning to write to that boy. I promised before you guys left for Hogwarts. He sends me letters every once in a while asking me how I've been. He's a sweet boy. Oh and how's James and Remus? Good I hope. Are you keeping them out of trouble, dear? God knows they need all the help they can get from what you've told me. Sirius too. I also heard something about a Peter fellow--- Right, well I hope everything is going well with the girls too. I haven't forgotten about them. Now if they aren't all coming for Christmas tell them I'll send their presents with Artemis. Okay? Oh gosh darn it. Petunia's back-- and she's brought that fat lard of a boyfriend. I've got to go make a dinner large enough for ten now that he's here. _

_XXX's and OOO's,_

_Mum_

"Since when do you write my mom?" Lily asked Sirius.

"Since like--- three months ago. I told her that I didn't have many people to write to other than James' parents, so she told me that I could write her as well."

"Oh. Well that's not weird or anything," she said sarcastically.

Sirius just shrugged.

"Okayyy. So who's coming over for Christmas?" Lily asked.

"Well my mom will want Sirius and I back for Christmas dinner and a few days during break, but I'm sure she'll be fine with letting me stay until then. Maybe you could come to my house after?" James suggested.

"My mom and dad don't care. I was going to stay at Hogwarts this year, or go to James' place. I guess I have other plans now, though." Remus said smiling.

"Alice and I are going to her place so I can meet her parents. Sorry, Lil." Frank said.

"My mum's taking me skiing in the Alps. So I guess I can't come either." Peter said, not wanting to be first to decline.

"Well Morgan and I were going to come crash anyways. Right Morgan?"

"Right Lauren! I think. . ." Morgan replied.

"Okay that sounds great! What about you two? Kylie and Logan? You can say hi to my mom in person!"

They looked at each other and both said, "Eh, why not," in unison.

"Okay! This is going to be so much fun! I'm going to go write back mum now! I'll see you guys in class!" Lily exclaimed jumping out of her seat.

She leaned over the table and kissed James for a few seconds, then slung her bag over her shoulder and jogged out of the Great Hall.

"Well I see her good mood is back." Remus said cheerfully.

"And I see that mine is still in tact." Sirius added.

"But, mate. Why wouldn't you give her the pancake earlier?" Remus asked curiously.

"Just because I'm her boyfriend now doesn't mean that I don't think she's cute when she's angry." James smirked in reply.

The rest of the table just rolled their eyes and went back to their breakfast.

After dinner was over and everybody was walking up to the tower Lily decided to bring up the holidays again.

"Well I wrote to my mum. She probably wont get the letter until tomorrow anyways though."

"That's okay," Kylie said smiling.

"Yeah she'll see us all when we get to your house.

_

* * *

_

_Dear Mum,_

_I think it's a great idea to have my school friends to come over for the holidays. James, Sirius, and most likely Remus will only be able to stay until Christmas afternoon though. James said that his mother will probably want them to be home for Christmas dinner. That means Sirius to since he lives there as well. Then Remus will end up going because, well, that's just how it is. Apparently, Lauren and Morgan were going to crash at our house whether they were invited or not. =) Kylie and Logan (you haven't met them, but they kinda live with us too) said that they'd be happy to come as well. Alice and her boyfriend are spending Christmas at Alice's so Frank can meet her folks. Peter (who you haven't met either (he's a Marauder too)) is going skiing in the Alps with his mum so he can't come. Other than that I don't have much to say. I have to get to class now. I'll see you at home! Tell Daddy hi and i love him for me!_

_All my Love, _

_Lily_

* * *

After dinner, as everybody was walking back up to the common room, Lily and James fell into the back of their group who were chatting animatedly about how the Marauder's had charmed the Slytherins to dance around the Great Hall singing Muggle Christmas carols and the looks on their faces once the charm had been lifted. Best of all was that the Marauder's didn't get caught.

As Lily and James walked Lily slipped her hand into James'.

"So are you excited about having us all over for Christmas?" James asked her.

"Of course! It's going to be so much fun! Though--- I think my parents might have to go to some sort of Christmas Eve party for my father's work. They have it every single year at his boss's place. And every year I can't come. And every year I'm stuck at home with Pet and one of her boyfriends. This year though I have you guys to keep me company. Maybe we can have a party of our own."

"Oh! Me and the guys are really good at parties! It's our specialty."

"I thought that was 'getting the girls'?"

"Well it's both." he explained.

"What about Quidditch?"

"That too."

"And what about-"

James cut her off with a sweet kiss. "You ask a lot of questions, love." he said his eyes twinkling and sparkling their amazing hazel color that Lily got lost in.

She smiled into the kiss, "I know. It's one of my specialties," she mocked.

"Touché." he complimented and gave her another kiss on those glossy, pink, strawberry smelling lips he loved so much.

* * *

Hiding behind a suit of armor nearby was none other than sulking Severus Snape.

'So the Gryffindor brats were going over to Lily's for the holidays now were they?. _His_ Lily's. _He_ used to be the one she invited over. _He _walked with her in the halls. _Him. _Not Potter. They were going to pay for this. They were going to pay-- Big time.' he thought menacingly.

With a swish of his black cloak and greasy hair, he was already on the way to his common room, unseen and unheard.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry it's been so long. I only got 14 reviews. It's okay though. I just felt like posting. I would like to dedicate this chapter to PottersLittleSister because she motivated me to finish writing this without even knowing it! This time I was ten more reviews before I post again. Please? **

**XXX's and OOO's,**

**Xx Brittney xX**


	29. Silliness Surpassed

Three fourths of the school was gathering in the Entrance Hall waiting to get a carriage to the station. Among that seventy five percent of the school were each Gryffindor years one, three, four, six, and seven.

Lily and James had to wake up early to catch the carriage for the Heads, so they could patrol the train from loading to unloading. They nipped into the Great Hall for some toast-to-go and hopped onto their carriage.

They had been patrolling the slowly filling corridors of the train for not even an hour before they broke up their first duel between a sixth year Slytherin and a fourth year Hufflepuff. It was now eight AM.

In the castle on the other hand, at the same time James and Lily had to break up that duel, it was havoc in the girl's dorm.

"Alice! Where's my green bra?!" Morgan shouted from under the bed.

"I put it back in your trunk two weeks ago. Remember?" Alice said calmly from her spot perched on her bed, being the only one packed.

"Oh yeah." she said and crawled out from under her bed.

"I wish Lily were here. She has that nifty packing spell. You guys would all be done by now, and we wouldn't be running late. . . Again." Alice sighed.

"Well, we're all going to the same place right?" Kylie asked.

"Yeah." everybody but Alice answered.

"Soooo, we all just shove stuff into our trunks and we'll sort it out later!"

"Oh my gosh Kylie! That's a great idea!" Lauren screamed and hugged her friend.

Within five minutes using nothing but their bare hands. . . okayyyy and a little bit of magic, maybe, they were all packed and ready!

Alice went and presented the idea to the males of their little clique who were, of course, still sleeping.

That problem was solved by Alice's wand, a few buckets, some ice water, and a magically magnified mega-phone.

Ten minutes later the boys, and Alice, joined the girls in the Entrance Hall waiting for a carriage.

After they got to the train station in Hogsmeade they had five minutes before the train left. Rushing onto the train they still managed to find a pretty good compartment.

Out of breath they all collapsed onto the cushioned seats and chatted about nothing for a few hours.

Morgan ended up falling right back asleep once the train started moving. Only this time it was on Remus' shoulder and not her pillow back in the dorm at Hogwarts.

Lauren and Sirius were all nice and cozy cuddled up in a corner on the floor, as were Alice and Frank in the seat above them. Kylie and Logan were just watching their friends while taking the occasional picture and blaming the flash on an invisible lightning storm.

James and Lily popped in time to time sharing interesting stories about various duels between Slytherins and other houses throughout the day, which were many. Who knew patrols could be so interesting?

Surely not Morgan who's snores had to be talked over by the storytellers.

Sirius didn't like hearing that his little brother had been involved in two of these duels along with Snape, Mulciber, Avery and that gang.

"Hey, where's Peter?" Sirius asked once Lily and James had left again to go look for more troublemakers to put into their newest stories.

"I don't know. He was here when we got here. I remember I accidentally stepped on his foot when we were looking for a compartment." Remus said while stroking Morgan's hair.

"Well we'll never be able to find him on this train. I don't want to get caught up in one of those duels anyways. Mrs. and Mr. P would kill me if I get in trouble for dueling again. They can handle pranking, actually they laugh when I tell stories, but-- they get really disappointed when they hear I've been dueling with Slytherins."

"Yeah. . ." Logan nodded at a loss for what to say.

"Whatimesit?" Morgan mumbled breaking the somewhat awkward silence.

"Uhhh. . . It's about two thirty, love," Remus said looking at his watch, "We've got another hour or so to go."

"Well this certainly has been a boring train ride." Morgan said.

"You've been sleeping! How is that boring?" Kylie asked her friend slightly shaking her head in an amused manner.

"No dreams." she replied matter of factly.

"Ahhh."

They were met with more silence.

During the last two hours of the train ride they found Peter (he said he was in the loo and ran into some friends), Lily and James came back two more times and ate all the food they'd bought from the Trolley Lady, Snape had come in looking for Lily and had left with boils, stings, bat bogeys attacking him, and clean pink and blue hair, and Sirius, Remus, Peter, Frank, and Logan had a burping and farting contest which the girls were the judges of. Surprisingly Frank won them both.

* * *

"LAND! SOLID LAND!" Sirius yelled dramatically once they'd gotten off the train.

"Get up you idiot," Lauren hissed pulling Sirius off the ground after he had started kissing it, "You are so not getting another kiss until you scrub those lips clean."

"Aww come on, baby." Sirius whined.

"Nope,"

"Don't make me use my puppy dog face." he threatened.

"_Petrificus Totalis._" Lauren smirked, paralyzing her boyfriend with a flick of her wand.

She heard the muffled snickers and snorts from her friends behind her.

"And _that_ is how you handle a crazy boyfriend." she said to the bystanders around her.

With another flick of her wand he was disillusioned and his body was floating along with his eyes glaring at her from the distance.

"I'll get his trunk." James mumbled as Lauren collected hers and discreetly put her wand on top steadying it with her hand so Sirius wouldn't fall to the floor.

As everybody passed through the platform they spotted their parents. Lauren quickly took all her spells and charms off Sirius, smirked, and pulled him to his feet, smiling sweetly while he glared. He couldn't do anything in front of all the Muggles and Lauren knew that.

First they saw Peter's mom who could just talk your ear right off. After they had started to hear about Peter's second cousins they made up an excuse to leave and find Lily and Alice's parents.

They bid Peter and his mother farewell and a couple hugs and 'I'll see you soons' and 'Write to me!''s later, they were finally free of Ms. Pettigrew.

Next they went to find Alice's parents. They decided they wouldn't go up to them since it was Frank's big moment of meeting them and all. So once they saw Mrs. and Mr. Anderson ***Alice's Parents* **they wished Frank luck, gave hugs, and waved to their friends and Alice's parents from their spots on the platform.

"Where are your parents Lily?" James asked her.

"Oh, didn't I tell you guys? We're apparating to my house. So umm since Kylie and Logan have never been Miss Morgan Monroe **(By the way, I realized that earlier I said her last name was McKinnon. Welll I changed my mind a couple chapters back and forgot to tell you. Also if I mentioned Alice's last name before I apologize. I couldn't find it. I looked trust me. So her new maiden name is Alice Anderson. Okay? =])**, you can take Kylie and Mr. Sirius Black you can take Logan." she said smiling.

"Why'd you call them Miss and Mr.?" Lauren snorted.

"I don't really know. I just felt like it. Everybody ready? Okay. One. Two. THREE!" she ordered.

On three all of the apparators had turned on their heels and were sucked into a tube of absolute blackness. As soon as it was almost to much to handle they appeared in Lily's living room.

"Ah!" Mrs. Evans screamed as the teenagers popped into her living room with a loud crack breaking through the silent air like a shotgun blasting a bullet through a human skull.

"Oh hello, dearies! You scared the living daylights out of me! Lily. Don't do that again." Mrs. Evan said all very quickly.

"Hey, mum." Lily laughed and hugged her mom.

"MRS. E!" Sirius, James, Remus, Lauren and Morgan yelled and dropped their things on their way running up to hug her.

Sirius, of course, got there first. Soon there was a huge group hug with Mrs. Evans in the middle. Now only Lily, Logan, and Kylie were left outside the hug.

"Honey, what's all this- oh hello, Firecracker!" Mr. Evans exclaimed as he saw the sight of all of Lily's friends hugging his wife and Lily smirking at them from a distance.

"Daddyyyy!" Lily squealed as she ran up and jumped onto him, wrapping her legs around his waist and hugging him.

"I'm glad to see you too, Firecracker." he chuckled.

Lily jumped down from her dad and smiled.

"Oh! I almost forgot. Mum, wherever you are since I can't really see you because Sirius' fat arse is in the way, and Dad, this is Kylie and this is Logan."

"My arse is perfectly normal sized thank you very much!" Sirius exclaimed breaking the hug.

Lauren stepped away to and shook her head at her boyfriend."Sirius, will you ever learn? It is a little large."

Talking over Lauren and Sirius' little argument about Sirius' butt size Kylie and Logan introduced themselves and started talking with Mr. Evans about Hogwarts.

After everyone stopped hugging Lily's mom she went to go finish dinner. A few minutes later she made her dad come in to help. The guys wanted to help, but sensing potential disaster, Lily rerouted them upstairs.

"I call Lily's room!" James shouted running up two flights of stairs into Lily's room with Sirius trailing behind him.

"No! James! Get back here! You can have the room next to me! James! Wait up!" Lily laughed.

But James and Sirius got to her room before her.

"Sorry Lils'," they both said. Then they shut the door and locked it with some powerful spells that Lily did not know yet and laughed.

A couple seconds later everybody else caught up with them and helped Lily in trying to get James and Sirius out of her room.

They failed.

Miserably.

Ten minutes later they were all sitting against opposite sides of the hallway leaning their backs against the wall.

Unknown to them, the dynamic duo had put sticking charms on the walls.

So now they were all stuck on the floor without their wands. Without James and Sirius. And Lily was without her room.

Suddenly the door bursts open. Some weird fog stuff rolls out as well. Then Sirius and James break through the fog dramatically.

Lily isn't able to utter a word or make a sound after she saw what they're wearing.

James was wearing a pair of Lily's old cut-off's that he made a bit bigger, one of her pink bras with two of her tank tops stuffed in them, and her favorite belt fastened around his stomach.

Sirius on the other hand had on her lime green bra with some tissues stuffed in it, some of her bright blue gym shorts, a white headband, and her lip gloss, surprisingly. Though unlike James instead of a belt he left his stomach bare showing off his great abs.

"Hello ladies." the two suavely said.

"Um- hi, James and Sirius. Uhh. Why are you---" Lauren trailed off.

"She wants to know why you're wearing Lily's clothes and if you're gay or cross dressers or what." Remus clarified.

"Well to answer Lauren's unasked question, no we are not gay or cross dressers, we just felt like stealing Lily's room. And what's in Lily's room you ask? Well a huge closet that's what! So what better to do than play dress up in her clothes completely embarrassing her in front of her parents?!" James exclaimed happily.

"What?! You two are _not_ going downstairs like that!" Lily screeched.

"Oh yes we are Lily-Pie." Sirius said tapping her nose affectionately.

The two of them started down the stairs and once they were a safe distance away and down at least one flight of stairs James yelled up, "I hope your mom made _cupcakes_!"

Cupcakes?

'Why would her mom make cupcakes?' Lily thought.

She gave up after a minute of thinking. There was no reason her mom would make cupcakes. Then it hit her. Her wandless magic! That was the codeword. Cupcake!

She laughed out loud at her own stupidity, as she heard her mother and father's howling laughter downstairs.

She was to late--

While everybody was giving her weird looks and asking her why in sodding hell was she laughing she took the Sticking Charm off all of them and bolted down the stairs.

"JAMES POTTER! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" Lily screamed as she got into the kitchen where her mom and dad were in stitches as Sirius and James strutted along the imaginary cat walk.

She ran up and tackled her boyfriend to the ground and discreetly changed his clothes back to what he was wearing under his robes when he got here.

"Oof! You're pretty strong you know that Lils'?" James complimented trying to make her hair stop the steaming that it was just starting to do.

"Oh come on Lily! Let the poor boy go! He was just trying to have some fun." her father said to her from his seat at the table.

"Oh no, I'm not going to hurt him, Daddy. Don't worry." she smiled sweetly at her dad then waved her hand in a complicated motion a Sirius changing him back to normal too.

Lily pinned James to the ground as best she could concidering how much bigger he was than her. By now she wasn't really mad anymore, just mildy amused.

So she let James off the hook, and whispered something threatening in his ear about what Lauren did to Sirius earlier at the platform except ten times worse and more humiliating.

He reddened then got up and helped Lily off the ground as well.

"Haha. Um sooo what's for dinner Mum?" Lily said hastily as the rest of her friends showed themselves from behind the wall smirking.

* * *

**A/N: BIGGG CHAPTER NEXT!!! NOT JUST Christmas and and Christmas Eve, muchhh muchh more. Dramaaa alerttt**

**=)**

**Fifteen Reviews please? or else no update.**

**XXX's and OOO's**

**Britt**


	30. Of Hate, Love, and Presents

The rest of that night came and went. Soon enough it was Christmas Eve.

Petunia and Vernon were on the couch by the Christmas tree in the living room snuggling and looking gross if what not.

"Get a room!" Sirius yelled as he swaggered into the room with everyone following behind him. Lauren smacked the back of his head roughly and gave him a look that said, 'Drop it'.

"We had one until you lot came along. Now sod off." Vernon retorted snidely.

"Well now this room is ours, so you if you wouldn't mind." Sirius continued, though not showing his fear of being sat on.

"Come on Vernon," Petunia hissed acidly, "We don't want their freakishness to rub off on us." and with that Petunia Evans grabbed her fat lard of a boyfriend's wrist, with an iron grip, and practically dragged him out of the room, while he glared poison daggers at Sirius and company.

"You didn't have to be so rude, Sirius." Lauren said with a roll of her eyes and a slight smirk gracing her cherry red lips.

"HE ATE THE LAST DINNER ROLL!" Sirius exclaimed like it was the perfect excuse.

"Erm, so?"

"Soooo, I wanted it."

"Mate, drop it. It was a bloody dinner roll. I'm sure Elizabeth will make you more. She loves you." Remus said from the sidelines.

"Well I bet there were a lot of people who wanted it who didn't get any because you took theirs." Lily chipped in playfully glaring at Sirius.

"What is this? Hate on Sirius day? And Lils, you can have that dinner roll back. You just might have to wait a little bit while I digest." Sirius said trying to look hurt and smirk at the same time, which is something only The Sirius Black can pull off.

With a revolted look Lily let it go.

"It's Christmas Eve guys! Not the time for fighting. Look, we have the whole house to ourselves except The Wicked Witch of the West and her elephant of a boyfriend. Lily's parents went to a Christmas party and wont be back until midnight. Lets have a little bit of fun!" Logan exclaimed with his attempted motivational speech.

"Partayyy!" Sirius yelled at the top of his lungs while dancing crazily on the coffee table.

"Sirius! Get off the table. Knowing you and your fat arse it'll break! And we are NOT throwing a party. Lets just sit around and watch Christmas specials. It's kinda a tradition around here," Lily said, surprisingly, shyly with a slight smirk on her face, "But since mum and dad aren't here I didn't think we'd be doing it again this year. . ." Lily started to get a sad look on her face and the smirk melted into a small frown.

James put his arms around Lily from behind, hugging her warmly, and said, "I think that's a great idea Lils," and smiled.

Sirius was still subtly dancing on the table and Lauren said, "Sirius if you don't get off the table I wont kiss you for this whole vacation," with a smug smile on her face that grew when Sirius jumped hastily off the table and coughed smoothing his shirt out, "So, how about some Christmas specials?"

Everybody just stared blankly at him for a few seconds.

"Okayyy," he said clapping his hands together, "I'm gonna go get some hot chocolate. Anybody want any?"

"With cinnamon please!"

"Extra chocolate!"

"The mini marshmallows please because the big ones are harder to chew, and, yeah."

"Whipped cream!"

"SPRINKLES!"

"One with low-fat milk, powdered sugar, a dash of cinnamon, seven mini marshmallows, and a dollop of whipped cream, please."

"Okay so I got one with cinnamon, one with extra chocolate, one with mini marshmallows, one with whipped cream, one with sprinkles, and one with low-fat milk, powdered sugar, a dash of cinnamon, seven mini marshmallows, and a dollop of whipped cream, and one that is plain because they didn't speak up, and one for me. Now erm, Lily, how do you make hot chocolate?" he asked sheepishly.

With a hearty laugh and a roll of sparkling emerald green eyes she said, "Come on Sirius, TO THE KITCHEN!" then did a superhero pose and started charging towards the kitchen leaving Sirius standing there bemused.

"She sure is something special, mate." Sirius said with a chuckle.

"And she's mine." James said with a love stuck look on his face.

Sirius eventually meandered his way into the kitchen and found Lily with the hot chocolate stuff ready.

"Okay Sirius, today you will learn the art of hot chocolate making. But before that you need to know what's what. Now this here," Lily said gesturing to the object in her hand, "is a spoon."

Sirius laughed and said, "Lily-Pie, I think I know what a spoon is."

"Well i figured just to be safe I should tell you, because God knows I've never seen you use one at dinner." she said with a cheeky grin.

With a roll of stormy grey orbs he said dryly, "Point taken. But now is not make fun of Sirius time. It's teach Sirius how to make hot chocolate time."

"All the time is make fun of Sirius time." Lily said sticking her tongue out at him.

* * *

A half hour later Lily had Sirius trekking up the stairs with a tray of twenty hot chocolates in his hand. She had figured they'd need extras considering how much they could eat, let alone drink.

As soon as they entered the room everybody was rushing up to them demanding their hot chocolate. Remus seemed to be the mob leader. Remus loves him some chocolate.

Before they reached them Sirius screamed, "Halt!"

They all complied and stopped in their tracks.

"Now Lily-Pie and I have worked very hard on these and it would be a shame if it all spill down everyone's shirts from people crashing into me." a mischievous grin gracing his handsome features that they all knew to well.

"I'm not wearing a shirt." James, Remus, and Logan said simultaneously.

"Well then that would hurt even more, so everyone, SIT."

They all plopped down ungracefully on the couch or the spot on the floor they were standing on with a loud 'THUMP' that shook the house a bit.

They were all looking at a smugly smiling Sirius expectantly now when Lily whispered, "I think you should give them their hot chocolate now."

"Righttttt."

* * *

From her seat on Logan's lap Kylie said, "Okay, so we can either watch Rudolph, Frosty, The Grinch, or that one with the two little dudes, that are brothers, and one of them is hot and the other is cold or something, and, yeah."

"Can you repeat that?" Logan said, befuddled.

"Er- no."

"Why?"

"Because I said so,"

"But why?"

"Because,"

"Because why?"

"Because I said-"

"Okay let's watch Frosty!" Lauren interrupted hastily.

"I think that's a great idea, love." Sirius said pulling her into his lap as well and giving her a short peck on the lips that made her heart flutter.

.

. .

. . .

By the middle of the movie Sirius and James were crying about how Frosty had melted, and their slightly irritated girlfriends were trying to console them by saying he comes back next winter, but nothing worked.

Soon they just decided to shut off the television since all the hot chocolate was gone already. As they got ready for bed Lily realized her parents weren't home yet and started to worry since it was around twelve fifteen, but her worries quickly vanished like smoke as James came up with his breath smelling of minty toothpaste and gave her a soft kiss on the lips that made her knees weak. It was short but sweet.

As they all said their good nights it looked like James wanted to say something but stopped short. He just waved in the girls' general direction and walked back into his room. After everybody was in bed Lily was still awake staring up at the ceiling waiting to hear the door open and close downstairs when her parents arrived. Finally at fifteen 'til one when she was sure everybody was asleep she creeped out of her bed and into Remus and Logan's room.

"Remus?" she whispered quietly and was met by a rustling of sheets and creaking bed springs.

When she got to the right bed she shook him softly. "Remus? Wake up."

"Whatsimesit?" he mumbled sleepily.

"Almost one," Lily whispered back.

He groaned and rolled back over, so Lily shook him some more.

"Don't make me get out my wand, Remus." she threatened.

"Okay, Okay, I'm up. I'm up."

"Good."

"Now what is it, Lily?"

"Let's go downstairs so we don't wake Logan."

"Okay." he agreed sleepily.

"You can bring a blanket if you want."

"Kay."

Once they got downstairs Lily curled up on the couch and motioned for Remus to sit down somewhere.

"What's up, Lils?" Remus asked softly.

"Well my parents were supposed to be back forty five minutes ago and they're not home. What if--" she trailed off with tears welling up in her eyes.

"Oh Lily," he said and came over to her and gave her a hug, "It's a Christmas party. Since when has there been a party that we've thrown at Hogwarts without alcohol? Eh? They're grown adults, they probably just lost track of time or something. Besides, it's Christmas, do you really think the Death Eaters would attack on Christmas? Even if he did, the chances of him getting the party where your parents are are slim to none anyways.

"So, how about I get you a warm glass of milk, then we go back up to bed?" Remus suggested in a warm tone.

Lily nodded and Remus got up and padded over to the kitchen to get her some warm milk to help her sleep.

When she heard the microwave go on she pulled herself together and sat up straight.

She thought to herself, 'This is pathetic. My parents will be fine. They know about the wizarding world. Besides not even Voldemort would be as heartless as to ruin Christmas. They're probably just staying late to clean up if I know mum. . . Always the people pleaser. . .'

By the time she was done thinking Remus was standing beside her with a glass of warm milk and a smile.

"Here 'ya go. You okay now Lils?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Let's go get some sleep." she said with a smile of her own.

"Sounds good to me. I was having a delightful dream about chocolate before you woke me up." he said teasingly.

Lily just smiled sheepishly and said, "Sorry 'bout that."

Remus chuckled and said, "Anytime, Lils." They walked in silence up the stairs and when they got to Logan's room they stopped and shared a hug that you would imagine a brother and sister sharing.

"Night, Rem." Lily said and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Night, Lils."

After her little talk with Remus she was feeling a lot better, as she lay down to go to bed she heard the soft opening and closing of a door downstairs and drifted into a peaceful slumber.

But---

Not for long.

* * *

Six hours later. . .

* * *

"IT'S CHRISTMAS!" Sirius and James yelled jumping on the edge of her bed.

Lily, Lauren, Morgan, and Kylie let out screams of their own and all fell out of bed onto the floor at the same time, each letting out a colorful stream of curse words and nasty hexes.

Soon Remus, Logan, Lauren, and Kylie joined Sirius and James jumping on the bed and chanting, 'It's Christmas, It's Christmas!' much to the annoyance of Lily and Morgan who thought the warm covers looked very inviting. Though soon enough James got Lily in the Christmas spirit with a nice long good morning kiss which had Lily blushing at the end of it.

Then Morgan couldn't help but smile at all of her cheerful friends. Besides it was Christmas. What's Christmas without somebody waking you up three hours to early? Eh?

The friends made their way downstairs only to be greeted with the smell of every breakfast food imaginable. There were pancakes, waffles, mountains of buttered toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, french toast, cereal, fruit, orange juice, water, milk, even pumpkin juice somehow made it's way there.

"Happy Christmas!" Mr. and Mrs. Evans exclaimed as they entered the kitchen.

"This looks great Mrs. E." James said as he walked up to give her a hug.

"Happy Christmas, everyone." Lily's father said as he made his way to give his favorite daughter a hug.

"Where's Pet?" Lily asked her father.

"Oh, she's still probably sleeping. It's still only seven in the morning. You know how she gets about her "beauty sleep"." he said with a slight snort that earned him a light slap from his wife.

"Where's Vernon staying then? He was here last night when we went upstairs to watch movies." Lauren piped up.

"You know, Lauren? That is a very good question." Michael said a stern expression set on his face. He went straight off to his eldest daughter's room.

"Don't be too harsh Michael! Don't scare the poor boy! It's Christmas!" Elizabeth yelled at her husband's retreating back.

Lily sighed and asked nobody in particular, "When will that girl ever learn?" and started chewing a mouthful of toast.

Soon enough everybody else started digging in and there was chipper chatter throughout the, delicious aroma filled, kitchen. Suddenly in the distance you could hear a deep voice ranting on about 'in the same bed' and 'without my permission' and even 'after breakfast go home''s. You could also hear a shrill voice joining the conversation screaming things like 'It's my life' and 'why do you hate me' and 'you're completely ruining everything! I hate you!'s.

Right then a very flustered middle age blonde man with smoldering emerald eyes stomped into the kitchen which was now filled with silence.

After a couple sloppy mouthfuls of eggs he said in an exasperated voice, "After she eats breakfast she's taking her presents and her 'fiance' back to his place for Christmas holidays. I mean _fiance!?_" he slapped his hands on the table, "That boy didn't even ask for our blessings! And Petunia _accepted_ two weeks ago without us even knowing! I doubt we would have even been invited to the wedding!"

"SHE'S ENGAGED?!?" the whole table asked with astonishment.

"Okay, did you guys not just hear my incredibly frustrated rant?"

"I just can't believe it," Elizabeth said with her head on her hands, "My own daughter is engaged and she didn't tell me. Gosh. I don't pay enough attention to her. . . I'm a terrible mother."

"Mum, you're great! I mean I turned out good right?" Lily comforted earning a watery chuckle from her mother.

"Yeah Lils, you turned out great. I'm so proud of you." Mrs. Evans said patting her daughter's hand.

"Okayy," Logan said trying to break the growing tension in the room, "Who wants to open presents?"

"ME!" everybody screamed but the two parents who were watching their younger daughter beam with happiness surrounded by her friends who were now all rushing out of the kitchen towards the Christmas tree.

They all sat around the tree in a circle and started handing out presents. Each person had a great big pile of presents surrounding them by the time they had finished sorting. Petunia and Vernon's stack together didn't even match Lily's cut in half which saddened and satisfied Lily at the same time.

"So who wants to go first?" Michael asked.

"How about Mum?" Lily suggested, which everybody agreed with.

"Open the one from the Marauders and Logan first, Mrs. E!" James exclaimed giddily.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea." she said as she reached for the gift. When she tore the paper off she found a beautiful new pair of ruby earings and a reservation for a day at the new spa in town.

"Oh boys! This is wonderful! It must have cost a fortune though!"

"It's from Sirius, Remus, Logan, Peter, and I, so really when you split it five ways it's not as much as you think we each spent." James said smiling.

"Oh thank you, thank you! I love it!" Together all the guys leaned in for a big group hug with Lily's mom, and received a kiss on the cheek from her.

"Ours next! It's kind of a joined present for both of you." Lauren smiled.

"It's from Alice, Lauren, Kylie, and I." Morgan said sweetly.

Mrs. Evans unwrapped her present and found a photo album inside. The album had pictures from Hogwarts and from their summer visit. There were a couple of the soccer game, just hanging out, the boys floating out in the lake after the girls' prank, Lily and James kissing in the hallway, Lily and James kissing at the ball, James singing in the great hall and Lily walking in stunned, and a few from the train that were blamed on the invisible lighting storm.

"This is so sweet! I can finally see how weird and crazy you all are at school!" she laughed.

"Why thank you." Sirius said in a macho man voice that made everyone crack up.

"Um, James, why are you in boxers at breakfast singing and dancing?" Michael asked in an amused manner.

"Haha, well, about that, you see, it was all Alice's fault really. And Kylie's. And Lauren's. And Morgans."

"What about Lily?" he asked.

"Oh she, erm, was in the Hospital Wing."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Anyways, Mum, me next." Lily said excitedly.

Lily had gotten her a goblin made charm bracelet. It already had charms on it. There was a wand with sparks coming out of it symbolizing how Lily was a witch. Accompanying it was a piano to symbolize all of those years of piano lessons Petunia took. Then two wedding rings interlocked to symbolize twenty three happy years of marriage.

"Oh Lily, this is amazing! I love it! Thank you sweetie."

"No problem, Mum."

"I suppose Petunia's present was telling me she was getting engaged then." she said sort of stiffly noticing the lack of gift from her eldest daughter. Tension in the air grew until more present opening started.

Then the present exchanging went on. Michael got some Quidditch stuff and books on magic from the guys, a new watch from Lily that had pictures of when each sporting event came on, and some of Alice's mum's favorite scones as an added extra from Alice.

James had gotten a new broomstick, the newest fastest version yet that had only been released two days ago, from Lily. From Sirius he had gotten a whole book of Transfiguration spells, a new snitch to practice with at home, and an autographed quaffle by Quidditch legends. Remus had gotten him pranking supplies as a hint they needed to play some more on Slytherins. Then Peter had gotten him new Quidditch gloves since he'd been complaining how his had gotten small. Kylie and Logan had both made him picture frames with a pictures already in them. Some of Lily and him, the Marauders, the whole group, him dancing in the Great Hall, the guys stuck on the lake, then pictures from third year when Lily hexed him into the hospital wing, Kylie and Lauren acting like dork and posing like models, and things like that. Alice and Frank also gave him a joined gift of chocolates, prank supplies, and a book on Quidditch plays. Mr. and Mrs. Evans gave him a really nice pocket knife that had a flashlight and a bunch of cool gadgets.

Sirius and Remus had both gotten boxers with puppies and wolves, respectively, that flashed with glitter and unicorns over few seconds from Lauren and Morgan who were giggling in the corner when they opened them. Lauren also got him a new beater's bat. Sirius gave Remus a look and took the girls by surprise by putting the boxers on over their pajama bottoms. From Lily, Sirius got his own copy of one hundred and one dalmatians, and a dalmatian puppy of his own that he named Junior. After several jumping hugs he and Lily shared he opened his next present from Alice and Frank. They got him three bottles of his favorite shampoo and conditioner that takes months to get from owl and he'd been out of of a few weeks. Kylie and Logan had gotten him a necklace with a shark tooth on it from a muggle shop downtown that looked great on him. Then Mrs. and Mr. Evans had given him a weeks supply of homemade chocolate chip cookies, and a muggle soccer ball.

Remus had gotten a butt load of chocolate from people. Apparently they knew of his weakness. All the girls, and Peter, Logan, and Frank, had given him Honeydukes chocolate, in addition to his new boxers, except Lily. Lily had gotten him a beaker of wolfsbane, the newest potion that helped with werewolve transformations. His eyes widened recognizing the substance and mouthed her a heartfelt thank you. Sirius had gotten a book on girls, presumably. James had gotten him a few books and some chocolate. Mr. and Mrs. Evans had given him a basket of his favorite chocolate chip muffins and a wizarding camera that they'd found an add for in one of Lauren's _Witch Weekly_ magazines that she had left over the summer.

For Logan they'd gotten him a nice muggle outfit from a designer store that he changed into right away then strutted down the hallway like a male model causing laughs. Kylie had gotten him a new pair of sunglasses and the heart charm from a locket with a picture of the two of them kissing inside. Morgan, Lauren, Lily, and Alice had gotten him IMP quills, a book of excuses on how to get of homework, a book on magical cities of the world since he's always loved travelling. The Marauders and Frank had gotten him a whole bunch of candy, prank tips, Herbology pointers, and his very own wizarding radio.

Morgan, Alice, Lily, Lauren, and Kylie all gave each other spa kits out of tradition that included mani pedi supplies, a hot guy who did massages for a living's business card, and a bunch of lotions and body washes and things like that. This way, whenever they needed a pick me up, they had plenty to work with.

Remus had gotten Morgan a gold necklace with a purple butterfly charm on it that sparkled in the light. Sirius had gotten Lauren a pair of diamond earrings that could be worn with practically anything. James had gotten Lily a beautiful necklace with a lily pendant that gradually changed colors in the light that earned him a very sweet kiss. Logan had gotten Kylie something that wasn't jewelry like everyone else had given their girlfriends. He got her a simple teddy bears with a note on it's lap saying, "_Forever and Always my love"._ It wasn't expensive or flashy, just sweet and cute. It was _exactly _what she wanted.

Sirius had gotten Lily a really old book called "_Forgotten Charms",_a really nice green handbag, and some over sized sunglasses that were twice the width of her face and had star shaped lenses. From Remus and Peter she had gotten books called _"Tips to NEWTS" _and _"Advanced Defense Spells"_which she thought could come in handy really soon. From Frank and she had gotten an extemely rare Orange Tiger Lily with Blue and Green spots instead of black. Lastly from her parents she had gotten a new scarf, cloak, book bag, a book on Potions, and some make up. She guessed Lauren's _Witch Weekly _had helped them out a bit more here too.

She smiled to herself and watched the rest of her friends open thier presents.

When they all had finished opening their presents Mr. Evans cleared his throat like he was ready to make an announcement. He got the rowdy teenagers to settle down an started his speech.

"Elizabeth, ever since the first time I saw you I knew in my heart you were the only one for me," he paused for a second to watch his wife blush, "I know you were really upset the day before the kids got here about losing your wedding ring in the sink. . . so I took it upon myself to find you a new one." he fiddled nervously with a small box behind his back and handed it to his wife.

She opened the little box and inside it was a beautiful new wedding ring. The band was white gold and had small diamonds, rubies, and emeralds leading up to the large stone. It was a two karat diamond that sparkled and shined in and out of the light. On the inside of the band it had an inscription, _"Not even death shall do us part."_

By this time Elizabeth had tears in her eyes and all of those but her husband "awww"ing around her.

"Do you like it?" Michael whispered.

"No." his grin faltered.

Looking at the ring again she said, "I love it." Relief washed over Michael's face and he shared a sweet kiss with his wife.

Sensing this was a private moment all of the present high teenagers made their way up to Lily's room.

"Oh crap it's almost two!" James exclaimed once they had all gotten comfortable in Lily's room.

"Umm soo?" Lauren asked.

"Sooo my mum wanted us at my place by three since dinner starts at four."

"We still have an hour at least." Lily said nonchalantly.

"Uhh, Lily, have you _seen_ our room?" Sirius asked a bit nervously.

"Oh gosh. Er- no." she responded.

"Good. But we may, possibly, have made a little bit of a mess." James said skittishly.

Lily made an irritated noise in the back of her throat.

"Well nothing a few Charms can't fix. Normally I would make you do it yourself, but it's Christmas and I really want to visit my muggle friends before we leave." Lily said reluctantly.

"Yesss!" James and Sirius shouted jumping in the air and sharing a high five.

Lily muttered something under her breath that sounded like "dorks" and walked out of the room for less than a minute and returned with her wand behind her ear.

"All done! Visiting time. Anybody who wants to come, follow me!"

"Yes Ma'am General Lily!" All but Kylie and Logan said in salute.

"You guys go ahead. We'll be fine here. We haven't met your muggle friends yet, so, er, yeah." Logan said with a smile.

"Okayyyy. Whatever you say, lovebirds." Sirius said with a wave.

"We love you! Try not to miss us to much!" Kylie shouted at her best friend's retreating backs.

"We love you too!" they all yelled over their shoulders.

Once they reached the living room as they headed to their destination: The Front Door, they told Lily's parents where they were going, who seemed to think it was a wonderful idea.

"Bye Mum, bye dad! Love you! See you in a half hour!"

"Bye, dearies! Love you too! That goes for all of you!" she said with a warm smile.

"Ditto to that, Firecracker!" Michael said in attempt to be cool.

They all let out little laughs and headed out the front door.

* * *

About twenty five minutes later and many enthusiastic of "Happy Christmas!" to her friends, Lily was finally wrapping it up with Abby.

"Okay Abby, well we've gotta jet. We've got to be at James' house in a half hour for Christmas dinner. I'll see you this summer though, I promise!" Lily said giving her friend a hug.

"Awww. You're leaving already? That sucks. Well I guess I'll see you this summer," she said with a small sigh, "Oh, and Lily, what's that thing by your house?" she asked with pure curiosity and wonder.

Each and every head turned and drained white when they did that 180. . . Just like their entire world.

It just couldn't be. . .

* * *

**Okay, I just couldn't wait to post this chapter right after I finished it. . . I was going to add the next part in here, but, I thought to myself, nahhhh. That's just not fair to me since I'm posting early.**

**Anyways, I would like to dedicate this chapter to _twihard-fanpire, PottersLittleSister, FaithfulHPReader, You-Know-Who!!! :) _*Even though she didn't put her name, YOU CAN'T FOOL ME BRITTANYY!!! I mean, psh, you can't fool somebody as brilliant as I that knows Mexico and Chicago are NOT states in the US of A. Merely a completely different country, and a city that resides in the US of A*, _xxBlacksxxDaughterxx, fairyofham, I am awesome, janisthegiant, _and _Eternally Inquisitive_ for reviewing last chapter! It's thanks to you I updated today! Pretty please review! I worked really hard to write this it's five thousand eighty words without the A/N, I'm on vacation too, so be grateful!**

**xoxo**

**XxBrittneyxX**


	31. Forever and for Always

_About twenty five minutes later and many enthusiastic of "Happy Christmas!" to her friends, Lily was finally wrapping it up with Abby._

_"Okay Abby, well we've gotta jet. We've got to be at James' house in a half hour for Christmas dinner. I'll see you this summer though, I promise!" Lily said giving her friend a hug._

_"Awww. You're leaving already? That sucks. Well I guess I'll see you this summer," she said with a small sigh, "Oh, and Lily, what's that thing by your house?" she asked with pure curiosity and wonder._

_Each and every head turned and drained white when they did that 180. . . Just like their entire world._

_It just couldn't be. . ._

Morgan fainted and almost hit the ground, luckily Remus caught her, and everybody was in a state of shock and couldn't move.

"Ummm, I'm guessing this isn't good. . ." Abby said slowly.

"No Abby, it isn't. That's the Dark Mark." Lily replied, voice constricted.

"What's that?"

"I'll explain another time. I've gotta go." and with that Lily raced down the street to her house.

"LILY! LILY, WAIT! YOU DON'T KNOW IF THEY'RE STILL IN THERE!" James yelled, chasing after his girlfriend.

"I DON'T CARE!" Lily screamed back.

James finally caught up with her and grabbed her around the waist, she turned around and pounded her fist against his well toned chest then gave up and started sobbing.

James just held her tight whispering soothing words and put his head down on top of hers letting tears of his own roll down his handsome face.

"We'll get through this," he whispered, "Together."

As everybody gathered around them, crying, sniffling, and hugging, they all had a big group hug with Lily and James in the center.

Lily wiped the tears off her face with a determined look on her face, "I'm going to make that Voldemort bastard pay." she snarled.

"Well, before we jump into things, let's face the music." Remus said solemnly as he opened the door, supporting a dizzy Morgan as well.

"Oh, Merlin." he muttered as he saw Mrs. E's lifeless form crumpled on the floor with that helpless expression on her face. He looked away as more tears welled up inside him.

When Lily saw she got choked up a bit but didn't let any more tears spill over. By now everybody was crying openly in shock. Everybody but Lily who's face was hard and angry looking. She wasn't going to cry again and show weakness. That's what they wanted. That's what the bloody bastard wanted and he wasn't going to get it while she was in plain sight.

She almost broke her unspoken word when she saw her father laying on the ground, innocently eating a pancake. They made a mockery of him and her family. More anger welled up inside of her.

She turned away from the scene and started running up the stairs blindly. Everything glass bursting and breaking in her path. She couldn't control her magic anymore. It was running wild. When she got to the third floor she saw a red footprint shining in the carpet. She slid down against the wall and asked herself quietly and miserably, "How did this happen?"

* * *

**Seventeen Minutes Earlier: The Evans Household**

The front door opened quietly as three men entered the threshold. They were garbed in black robes and had gruesome masks placed upon their faces. One had a greasy mop of black hair, another long platinum blond tied back in a pony tail, lastly a fifteen year old boy with stormy grey eyes and black hair.

"Watch and learn Regulas. Oh Miss Evans, come out come out wherever you are." Malfoy said in a slippery voice.

"I thought we weren't going for Li- I mean the Mudblood?" Snape said his speech faltering slightly.

"Why in bloody hell would you think that? She's a filthy Mudblood."

"She's a very powerful witch. She could be beneficial to our cause." Snape half lied.

Malfoy stopped in his tracks.

"Perhaps we can spare her. . ." he considered.

"Lily, dear, is that you?" Miss Evans called from around the corner.

"No, but it is me," Snape said pulling off his mask and his wand pointing at her.

"Oh, he-hello, dear, would you mind putting your wand away from my face? Who's your friends Severus?"

"Malfoy and Regulas. And I'm afraid I cannot do that, Elizabeth," Snape said without a bit of remorse for what he was about to do, "_Avada Kedavra!" _he said slowly and maliciously.

Shock and fear was all that was on Elizabeth's face when she hit the ground. Malfoy had already began his search in the kitchen for Michael, who he found eating a left over pancake from that morning. Without warning Malfoy came up behind him, aimed, and fired a killing curse straight, square, in the back of his neck. At the sound of the voice Michael started to turn around only to let the fear settle in his eyes as the life left them.

Just as Snape turned the corner he saw his ex-best friend's father topple off the kitchen table as limp as a noodle.

"Come on," he said gruffly, "There still might be more upstairs."

Unknown to them Kylie and Logan had heard them enter the house, they snuck out of Lily's room and peeked over the landing only to see Snape and Malfoy talking to Mrs. Evans. Regulas was hidden in the side lines. They didn't have their wands with them and didn't know where they were. They were defenseless.

They tip-toed back into Lily's room and Kylie started rummaging around for something to write on and with.

"What are you doing?" whispered Logan.

"Writing a goodbye note," Kylie said sadly, "I'm not afraid to die. We have no chance here. You know that. Even if we did have our wands these two are the gruesomest, darkest, most evil kids in our year. Let's write this goodbye note together. We owe our friends that much for all they've done to us." she said with tears sparkling in her eyes.

Logan agreed with a sad look on his own face the flickered with fear every once in a while. He knew every word Kylie said was true.

Kylie found a rumpled piece of parchment and a spare pen on Lily's desk.

She stared writing.

Just as she was about to finish the letter, the door burst open revealing the two Death Eaters.

Malfoy tisked, "Now what do we have here?" his cold voice asked.

"I think they're our next victims," Snape replied, "Let's switch it up for our Gryffindor friends. Shall we?"

_"SECTUMSEMPRA!" _they both cried in unison.

The screams of the two Gryffindor students died in their throats as they looked at the other bleeding to death. They inched closer together and sealed their love with a kiss. Their blood mixed and they were one. Forever and for always. They shared a last breath and became motionless at the Death Eater's feet who merely walked out of the room making footprints of blood throughout the hallway.

"Oh I forgot something." Malfoy said as he sauntered back into Lily's room. He opened the door that led to her balcony and shouted, "_Morsmorde!_" with his wand pointed up into the dark snowy sky.

He walked back to Snape and Regulas and smiled in a sick, twisted, evil manner.

"We're done here." he said smugly and turned on his heel apparating on the spot with a '_crack' _followed swiftly by Snape. Regulas spared a last look at the couple and apparated himself.

* * *

**Present Time**

Lily stood up shakily and followed the footprints to her own bedroom. '_Kylie and Logan. . .' _she thought. Slowly she open the door and when the scene unfolded in front of her, she let out a blood curdling scream of horror. Her heart was pounding in her throat and her breath hitched as she shakily walked over to the piece of paper by Kylie's hand. It read,

_Guys. . ._

_I have no idea how to say it so I'm just going to be blunt here. Logan and I are about to die at the hands of Death Eaters. I'm not ashamed and I'm not afraid of it. I just wanted to say goodbye because you deserve that much. You are all wonderful people and I hope you kick some Death Eater ass in the near future, for me, for Logan, for all of those who have died already at the hands of Lord Voldemort, the ones who have lost loved ones, and for all that are bound to end up like them. We will always love you and I beg you not to forget us. Don't live your lives regretting anything you've done. Live it without regrets as that is the only way to live. Again we love you and_

Then there just was a jagged line across the bloody spattered paper. By now she was aware of the five other beating hearts around her that were reading over her shoulder.

"I've got to get out of here." Lily whispered to herself. She was about to start running again but a hand was firmly rested on her shoulder. The owner of the hand wrapped her in a firm embrace and dissapparated with a _'crack'._

The person slowly guided Lily down a winding road. They opened the door for her and helped her inside.

"Oh! Hello Sirius, and this must be Lily," Alexa Potter said warmly, "Oh, dear. . ." she said once she saw the two's grief stricken faces. Her hazel eyes sparkling with fear.

"They didn't? Not on Christmas. . ." Alexa said with her voice full of sorrow shaking her head.

Lily nodded and said gravely, "They got my parents. . . Kylie and Logan too. They're gone forever," fighting back her tears she kept talking, "They used the killing curse on my parents and a curse that Snape made up, I'm guessing, on Kylie and Logan."

Alexa sighed with tears brimming in her own eyes, "I'll go tell Zach to alert the authorities, he's an Auror," She turned around to go find her husband when she whipped around so fast her auburn locks swirled around her face, "Are James and the others alright, Sirius?"

He only nodded silently. Lily spoke, yet again, for him, "They should be getting their things and such. We left sort of unannounced. . ."

Her face relaxed and she told Sirius and Lily, "Sirius can show you up to your room where you can wait for your friends. Or perhaps James' room would be best. . ." and with that she bustled away to go find Zach.

Once they got up to James' room and sat on his bed, Sirius finally spoke, "I'm so sorry, Lily," he hugged her tightly and burst into fresh sobs that landed on her head. Lily comforted him in the best way she could without letting those forbidden tears out herself. She would _not_ cry yet. She would not cry. . . Then everything went black and she passed out.

* * *

**A/N: I was SO impressed by all of those reviews I got within the first eighteen hours of my update I decided to write more and post again today. See, reviews make for faster updates. I'm thinking** fifteen **reviews until the next update? since the last chapter was so long and posted early. =) I know you guys can do it since I saw all of those reviews in my in-box within a few hours of the last update. I'm VERY impressed by, and thankful for_, FaithfulHPReader, Eternally Inquisitive, PottersLittleSister, The Grim_ *;)*, _The Next Lord Voldemort, xxBlacksxxDaughterxx,_ _MrsCarlisleCullen94, _and _Your darling dearest fiancee;)._ This chapter's for you, my lovely reviewers!**


	32. Love Always Lives On

_Oh, Merlin." he muttered as he saw Mrs. E's lifeless form crumpled on the floor with that helpless expression on her face. He looked away as more tears welled up inside him. _

_When Lily saw she got choked up a bit but didn't let any more tears spill over. By now everybody was crying openly in shock. Everybody but Lily who's face was hard and angry looking. She wasn't going to cry again and show weakness. That's what they wanted. That's what the bloody bastard wanted and he wasn't going to get it while she was in plain sight._

_She almost broke her unspoken word when she saw her father laying on the ground, innocently eating a pancake. They made a mockery of him and her family. More anger welled up inside of her._

_Oh, Merlin." he muttered as he saw Mrs. E's lifeless form crumpled on the floor with that helpless expression on her face. He looked away as more tears welled up inside him._

_When Lily saw she got choked up a bit but didn't let any more tears spill over. By now everybody was crying openly in shock. Everybody but Lily who's face was hard and angry looking. She wasn't going to cry again and show weakness. That's what they wanted. That's what the bloody bastard wanted and he wasn't going to get it while she was in plain sight._

_She almost broke her unspoken word when she saw her father laying on the ground, innocently eating a pancake. They made a mockery of him and her family. More anger welled up inside of her._

_Malfoy tisked, "Now what do we have here?" his cold voice asked._

_"I think they're our next victims," Snape replied, "Let's switch it up for our Gryffindor friends. Shall we?"_

_"SECTUMSEMPRA!" they both cried in unison._

_The screams of the two Gryffindor students died in their throats as they looked at the other bleeding to death. They inched closer together and sealed their love with a kiss. Their blood mixed and they were one. Forever and for always. They shared a last breath and became motionless at the Death Eater's feet who merely walked out of the room making footprints of blood throughout the hallway._

_

* * *

_

The funeral for the Evanses was a few days later. Petunia and Vernon attended not speaking a word to Lily or her friends other than to get the bloody hell away from the graves and never to speak to them again. This left Lily heartbroken on the inside though she didn't show it. Lily had become sort of a shell of anger, resentment, and coldness. She didn't talk to anybody but James, and occasionally Sirius.

When the funeral for Kylie and Logan came Lily apologized profusely to both of their parents.

"We don't blame you, Lily," Kylie's mother told Lily sadly through her sobs, "Kylie and Logan both died bravely. Together. They've always been strong and so are you, Lily. You'll get through this war. Just keep your friends close to you, and don't you let your emotions stay bottled up. I know you're trying to be all kept together for your friends, but darling, they don't expect you to be made of stone. It's okay to cry." The middle aged woman said softly, tears still streaming down her face. She gave a quiet Lily a meaningful look and walked away to the open arms of her husband.

Lily then turned and did the same into James' open arms.

* * *

Winter and spring flew by with little conversation through the group. For the first year ever no huge parties were thrown for Lily nor James' birthdays. They were a quiet affair with a few presents from everybody and dinner in the kitchens with cake. The teachers seemed to think that now more than ever homework should take over their lives. James and Lily barely had time for their friends let alone each other. The only time they seemed to have to themselves and their thoughts were on patrols which were more draining than ever.

* * *

It was the day before NEWTS before things were getting back to normal.

"Oh my gosh what's the incantation for a shield charm!?" Lily was officially freaking out. She was ruffling through seven years of DADA notes for a spell she's used flawlessly countless times. This was about the 18th time that night. The Marauders were fed up with it for that matter. The girls were used to this by now. They learned to tune her out by third year when she was in this state.

"What are we gonna do with her?" Peter whispered to Remus, Sirius, and James.

"I say we just take her notes, it's the only thing that has a chance of working with 's going bloody insane over those things." Sirius said.

"Orrrrr--- we could simply offer to help her." Remus suggested.

"Moony, that's crazy, go study or something. You're obviously infected with whatever Lily's got. Studying. The Marauders besides Remus? Yeah right. I, Sirius Black, do not study."

"Maybe Moony's right Padfoot."

"Oh my gosh, my friends are going crazy!" Sirius cried.

"No, I think if we somehow helped her practice, by like, a fake duel or something, she'll losen up." Peter said.

"Exactly! Thank you, Pete!" Moony said.

"I think I'll just go solve this problem right now." Sirius said strutting over to where Lily was still frantically looking for the Shield Charm incantation in a pile of notes.

"Why hullo, Lily,"

"Go away Sirius, I'm studying."

"Oh, I think you're about done with that." Sirius said with a smirk on his face.

"How can you say that!? I still have to study for Charms, Defense, and Transfigur-ahhh! Sirius Black! Put me down this instance!" Lily shrieked.

Sirius just cackled with mirth as he motioned for the Marauders to follow him as he exited the portrait hole at a run.

"Sirius! My notes! I. Have. To. Study! I'm going to fail tomorrow!"

"Oh Lily, Lily, Lily, when will you ever learn? We are going on an adventure!"

"We can't! Black put me down!"

"Or what?"

"Or--or-or- I"ll show Lauren those pictures of you when you got stuck in that tree third year and started crying!"

Sirius gasped dramatically, "You wouldn't!"

"Ohhh, I think you both know I would." Lily glared at Sirius' back.

"_Silencio_." Sirius said smugly not believing he hadn't thought of it earlier.

He heard muffled laughter behind him and the pounding of Lily's fists against his back. He did a one eighty then grumbled when he saw his friends who burst out laughing when they saw his face.

"You _cried_because you go stuck in a tree when you were 14?" Peter laughed.

"Oh shove off." Sirius grumbled as he entered the Hospital Wing door slamming it shut on his friends' faces hearing them run into it.

Sirius turned on the lights to the Hospital Wing waking a few patients and not really caring. He waltzed into Poppy's quarters and turned on her lights as well.

"Mr. Black! What are you doing out past curfew!? And is that Miss Evans you're carrying? What happened to her? Is she alright? Oh well of course she's not all right, give her here." Poppy said pointing to a chair to sit Lily down on.

"Hey, Poppy. Oh Lily here is just fine, just crazy. Yeah, she wants to_ study_ of all things. She's having a meltdown, I had to silence her. I can't put her down, she'll start hitting me and hexing me and such. We need some Calming Drought."

"Oh here you go dearie, I had a feeling you'd be in Miss Evans."

"How 'bout I just take the whole thing, bye Poppy!"

"Mr. Black! She can't take all of that!" By then Sirius had already gone and shoved some potion down Lily's throat.

"What's the spell to turn somebody into stone?" Sirius quizzed.

"_Duro._" Lily said as if it were obvious.

"You're back!" Sirius said hugging her.

Lily laughed and said, "Yes, yes, I don't feel like studying anymore. Thank you Sirius Black, you are my savior."

Sirius burst through the Hospital Wing doors and yelled, "She's back!" to his friends who were all sporting bruised faces by this time from the door.

They all cheered and hoisted Sirius onto their shoulders like he had just won the Quidditch World Cup or something.

"Oh come on guys, I wasn't that bad." Lily said indignantly as she followed them up to the Seventh floor. They all just stared at her until James had the heart to tell her that she'd being freaking out about spells they'd done in first year for five hours. It had been time for an intervention.

Lily on the other hand was mortified she hadn't known how what _Wingarduim Leviosa_ and ran up crying to her dorm while James had to keep a steady jog to keep up with her. When he finally caught up with her in their common room he hugged her around the waist as he had the day Kylie, Logan, and her parents died.

"Lils, calm down. You're not stupid, you were just stressed. It happens to the best of us. Besides, you're fine now. Sirius intervened and now you're as sharp as a tack," he said still hugging her.

They sat down in the couch in each other's arms.

"I was being kind of crazy earlier wasn't I? I mean if I don't know it after seven years of studying I'm not going to learn it over night." Lily said regaining her rational thoughts.

"Exactly! That's the Marauder philosophy. If our devastating good looks and natural charm and brilliance don't wow the examiners, nothing will!" James said grinning.

"Oh because you're soooo good looking," Lily teased.

"We are!"

"I'm sorry to inform you James, but you, James Potter, have been told a lie all these years. You really are quite ugly. We all just feel bad for you so we try to boost your ego." Lily told him in a serious tone.

James just snorted and said, "Lily, you are a terrible liar, but that's one of the reasons I love you," and kissed her one the nose.

"You love me because I'm a bad liar?" She asked confused.

"Lily, I love everything about you. Your huge appetite, to how you get along with just about everybody, your sense of humor, your brilliance, to how you scrunch your nose funny when you're reading a book, how strong you are, your ability to see the best of others, your beauty, and just how you're an amazing person inside and out Lily. I love that about you."

"James, I don't care about NEWTS anymore." Lily said turning around into his chest.

"Don't be silly, Lily. You've been studying for two entire months for these, of course you care about them."

"I only care about you, James." Lily said softly.

"I care about you too, Lily, but these test determine our future."

"You're my future, James. I hope you always will be."

"You should know I'll never leave you. You're my one, my only, and my forever. Us, this year, just everything that's happened to us, it's fate. And fate's telling me we're going to be together forever. Forever and for always."

Then they sealed it with a kiss. Not to long, not forced, not anything hot and heated, just a simple sweet kiss that just was James and Lily.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, okay. I know. Almost eight months of hiatus is completely unacceptable. Truth be told... I just wasn't in the writing mood. When I was at my other school I had a brilliant English teacher who really focused on writing, and now I have... Well the most writing we ever do is essays on books. Not the fun good kind of writing. I know it's still no excuse and I'm sorry. I know this is a terrible ending for the story, but I can't help it. If I didn't end it now, it would never be over. Ever. I did have an incredible time writing this whole story though! And my reviewers! Oh my reviewers... How I love you all so. You were my inspiration! What had me writing after chapter one! I love you all and beg you to please forgive me and review one last time! You can yell ay me for taking eight months, or say whatever you want :) Please review though. :D**


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